bsg earth war continuation part 1
by sharpe26
Summary: the finding of a mysterius vessel in earth's solar system results in an interstellar war.


BATTLESTAR GALACTICA VIII  
Preface : I wrote this story several years ago since I felt that Cain would 've survived at Gamoray. The inclusion of Galactica 80 and elements from some of the novels is on my own decision since I felt it would add a certain value to the story.  
  
  
THE CYLON EMPIRE   
  
AT the dawn of the seventh millenium a war erupted  
between the twelve colonys of man and the Cylons.  
  
The Cylons felt the humans had intervened with the nature of the universe long enough and a bloody stalemate was the result.  
  
And since deceit started the stalemate, deceit broke it as well.  
  
The human fleet was lured into a trap and destroyed, just as were  
their home planets.  
  
Commander Adama, the sole survivour of the quorum of twelve, the leading body of the twelve worlds, assembled the survivours and lead them on a quest, for a shining planet called earth, home of the fabled thirteenth tribe.  
  
After a long search, they finally locate the planet but the colonial remnant soon discovers that Earth is nowhere near ready to receive them and aid them in their struggle with the Cylons.  
  
Measures are taken however to bring Earth up to colonial standard. These measures however fail for the fleet is attacked by a large force of Cylon baseships. The warriors from the Galactica put up a valliant struggle, but it is to no avail. The fleet is ordered to scatter while the battlestar Galactica is captured.  
  
prologue  
  
they were now finally heading home, returning from an amazing three month yourney through the solar system. It sure felt good to captain  
James Scott, commanding officer UES Star Voyager. He opened the ships  
computerlog and wrote   
  
" LOG : SS BUSH  
DATE: 2-12-59-99  
The journey has been remarkable. We have made   
interesting discoveries. I will include a full TRS   
report with the log entry of my arrival. However we still have to make it through what is known in Space command as the Bermuda corridor.   
  
  
SIGNED : Captain James Scott "  
  
Scott's chime sounded.  
  
It was Jones, the XO for this mission.  
  
" Captain, we're now entering Bermuda corridor.  
I'm on my way, Jonesy. Tell engineering to get ready for a full speed  
run and ready all lasers."  
  
Then he deactivated the intercom and headed for the bridge.  
  
The command seat, was the highest seat on the bridge. Not  
only did it symbolize the rank of the captain, but it was  
really functional as well.  
  
From his seat, the captain could monitor most of the ships systems and, if needed, initiate procedures such as damage control.  
  
It was something James Scott hoped he would never have to do.  
  
He sat down and looked over the entire bridge.   
  
Everybody was ready.  
  
Ninety six hours or gruelling death, that was their choice.   
  
Ever since the Apollo had accidentally stumbled upon the beheaded bodies of the crew of the USS Texas, space voyages had changed. Not only were the crews armed, the ships were now armed as well.  
  
Scott looked around. Neither Jones, Carter, Cartwright, or  
Harris looked back. They were all ready and waiting.  
  
They would not be kept wanting.   
  
" Contact, raid one, heading zero nine zero." This came from Jan Cartwright, the only woman on the crew.  
  
"Engineering, flank speed, Jones, standby laserbatterys!"  
  
Scott went over to Harris to asses the situation.  
  
They, were in the middle, of the diagram, heading for Earth, There was a small group of four objects closing in fast.  
  
" How's that laser range doing Jones?"  
  
" First object almost in laser range sir." reported Jones." Fire  
when in range." Scott ordered  
  
A few moments later, the first object came into range. Jones  
pushed the fire button. To the pirates, or if they were that, Scott thought, it was a surprise. To those aboard the Star Voyager it meant a stay.  
  
Most of the four raiders didn't even have time to think  
about what just happened, they were all too busy taking evasive  
action.  
  
Suddenly, one ship exploded. It had received a direct hit  
from one of the ships lasers.  
  
It was her chance to get away from her attackers.  
  
Scott managed to increase the space between them with a hundred times  
the length of their ship.  
  
  
Moments later, they were out of range.  
  
In this way, a few hours passed.  
  
The Star Voyager had kept up her flank speed for a couple hours.  
  
So as Harris, who was the engineer, approached him about cooling down the engines, Scott gave the order to slow down to half speed.  
  
But he also took precautions.  
  
"don't want them to catch us offguard, Jones, don't powerdown  
the lasers yet. I've got a bad feeling about this place."  
  
Jones nodded. He understood quit well.  
  
But,  
  
" Contact, on heading three six zero, coming straight at us!"  
  
"Great."  
  
Muttered Scott as he got back in his seat.  
  
" Jesus christ, is that thing big or what!" Harrison shouted as they  
noticed the two joined together saucer sections approaching.  
  
" Hard about, engineering, maximum speed right now." Scott felt  
the kick from the engines as they were shifted into higher gear.  
  
Star Voyager raced away from the baseship like crazy. Spectre  
watched it from one of the internal monitors, it was like Lucifer had  
told him, the earthlings were good fighters and good pilots. He  
thought it was a shame.  
  
The earthlings could learn much from them, and their masters  
Could order it but, since Imperious Leader had the obvious desire to destroy the  
planet and its inhabitants, Spectre knew what could be  
expected.  
  
" Full stop, our raiders will deal with them." the centurion unit in the command chamber answered " By your command." and left.  
  
The baseship came to a full stop, having duly dispatched a  
couple of salvos in the direction of the human spaceship.  
  
" Why those guys didn't come after us is, one of the many  
miracles of time." Harrison reacted. Then he noticed something on his scopes.  
  
" Contact, on heading three three six, coming at us with almost no speed at all." Scott got up from his seat, being followed by most of the others.  
  
This contact was definetly different.  
  
They all walked over to the viewscreen.  
  
The drifting object, suddenly came to a full stop. Scott, reacted on instinct.  
  
  
  
" Helmsman, get us inside we're going to use that thing, what ever it is! " It was apparent to Scott that this was an alien vessel, he wondered where she had come from.  
  
Carter the helmsman, had them there about five minutes later. Jones ordered Cartwright to start biological scans.  
  
They had the results in quickly.  
  
" biological scan shows all clear. No dangerous materials in the air." Scott looked at the data now being relayed to him from the science station.  
  
" Okay, gentlemen, let's see what we've got here." while saying  
that he lowered the entrance ramp and walked down.  
  
Jones didn't see much of what was present but, they did notice that  
something had happened here, in this bay, or whatever it had  
been.  
  
" Looks like an elevator up there, captain." Carter pointed over towards one of the farther ends of the dock. Scott saw for himself that Carter was right. There was indeed an elevator shaft leading up to some place.  
  
Scott began to walk in the direction of the shaft.  
  
He activated his flashlight and pointed it down, towards what he thought was the bottom of the shaft. The platform wasn't there.  
  
He pointed it upward. There was something, something that looked like an elevator floor.   
  
Suddenly, there was a whine and the elevator came down. To their surprise, the platform was still intact. Everyone stepped on the platform.   
  
Before they had time to figure out what was going on, they were going up.  
  
  
Without them expecting it, the elevator came to a standstill.   
  
The door in front of them hushed open. They were looking at a corridor.  
  
" Well, Mr Jones, what do you think about this vessel as so far." Jones waited a moment before he brought up his answer  
  
" Well sir, it would be a shame leaving this thing behind in a dangerous territory like this." That made for a few laughs from the others.   
  
Scott observed Jones, to him it seemed, that his XO was having the adventure of a lifetime. The others weren't that different.  
  
That settled it for Scott. They were going to take this ship to Earth. Then the door at the far side of the corridor opened automatically.  
  
The men carefully went in the direction of the open door. Scott thought his ears were deceiving him, he heard something buzzing but yet, the ship was supposed to be empty.   
  
So, he increased his pace. The door was still open.  
  
  
" Come on Jones, I believe there's something behind that door."  
He quickly stepped through the door, with Jones right behind  
him. Everybody was stunned.  
  
The bridge was still intact and, apparently functional.  
  
Scott knew what he had to do.  
  
" Jones, see what you can do with that console up there." Scott pointed at a revolving pedestal with a couple of other instrument panels on top.  
  
" Harrison, take the helm, right here, I think." The helmsman from Star Voyager slid into place in front and below the pedestal.  
  
" Cartwright, locate the scanners, we're really gonna need them."   
  
Cartwright went off in a separate direction.  
  
" Carter, you're gonna be my messenger, if I want the others to carry out an order of mine, I want you to let them know, Understood?" Carter nodded affirmative, the Star Voyager mission was his first assignement.  
  
A couple of minutes later, Carter brought the word that everybody had reached their assigned positions.  
  
" Very well, Mr Harrison, get us up to maximum speed, course  
Earth." Harrison acknowledged and pushed forward a couple of  
levers.   
  
Scott felt the kickback as they reached the vessels  
maximum speed.  
  
" Navigation, how far to the outer perimeter? Sixty million  
kilometres, and closing in fast!" Cartwright responded.  
  
Scott looked at the large forward viewer, they were going  
incredibly fast indeed .  
  
" Decrease speed with one third, Mr Jones, radio the outer guard, tell them that we're coming through. Aye sir." The stripes outside the forward viewer  
became stars again but, they were coming so very slowly.  
  
" We have reached the outer perimeter sir. Full stop."  
ordered Scott as he took out his wrist chronometer.   
  
Scott whistled as he noticed the time it took them to get there  
where they wanted to be so bad. " Ahead one third speed into the  
system, Mr Harris."  
  
They smoothly sailed past the planet Pluto.   
  
It was then that Scott wondered why the guard ships weren't on station.   
  
The large ship continued her journey. When a radio message was received.  
  
  
" Attention, unknown vessel of my port bow. This is the UES Monitor. Please  
state your business and come about or we'll open fire."  
  
Scott grabbed an emergency radio he had taken with him from his own ship.  
" USS Monitor, this is the commanding officer of the UES Star Voyager,  
please inform the docking station that we will be requesting a vector to a secured area."  
  
The reply was quick yet formal" Roger captain Scott, docking station has been informed out." The radio went off the air with a crackle of static.  
  
Not very much later, the large ship arrived at the docking station. Where her inofficial crew now noticed that their ship was going to be to big to dock.  
  
  
" Gentlemen, Mr Cartwright and I will go to the station and report to admiral Spencer. The rest of you will remain on the bridge." with that he and  
Cartwright left for the dockingbay.  
  
  
Admiral Carl Spencer was waiting in the main arrival bay as the Star Voyager entered the docking bay. He was very interested about what the thing was one of his captains would be telling him about very shortly now.  
  
Spencer walked over to the Bush as the ship had been securely docked. The entrance hatch had already been opened.  
  
Spencer noticed that Scott was the captain coming out.  
  
Yes, now he remembered, Scott had left three months ago on another scouting mission. He was indeed scheduled to report in. He walked in Scott's direction.  
  
  
" Captain Scott, it seems you have found something this time." Spencer commented as Scott walked up to him.  
  
" Oh yes sir, I shot down one of those raiders while in Bermuda corridor and I've got a computer relay of something you ought to see." By now, Spencer's curiosity reservoir had crested.  
  
  
" Let's continue this conversation in my office, captain." while saying that he led Scott down one of the many corridors of the docking station.  
  
  
Spencer's office was quite luxurious. Scott noticed the large desk the moment he came in. But what was even more apparent, was the large, comfortable chair that had been placed in front of the large panorama window. Spencer took to the chair.  
  
" Any idea on what sort of vessel she is? "  
  
He nodded his head negatively.   
  
" I haven't got the faintest idea, sir, but what do you plan to do with it?  
I want to inspect her and then make plans on what we'll do with  
her." that same moment his intercom beeped, the sound was  
empty, Spencer's office being so large.  
  
" Yes, what is it?"  
  
" I'm Sorry sir, but this is a message for the both of you, captain Scott we just got a message from your ship, they're scanning something on a heading for the station, they want you to come back sir, admiral, i've just received a message from the defense command, they want you to oversee the operations of  
that ship "  
  
Spencer slammed his fist on the close button of the intercom.  
Then he said " Let's go captain!"  
  
Scott wondered about Spencer's physical condition. He ran all the way to the launch station and, he was able to keep up with him.   
  
They quickly strapped themselves into the shuttle seats.  
  
" Checkpoint control, this is shuttle Alpha on course for coordinates 3446, request permission for emergency launch."  
  
" Roger shuttle Alpha, launch when ready. " Moments later, they  
were out the launch tube.  
  
" Shuttle alpha to Star Voyager control, please standby to receive.  
Roger shuttle Alpha, starboard dock is clear."  
  
Spencer was noticeably delighted as they docked. " Quite amazing" he kept  
repeating to himself. He was even more astounded when they reached the bridge.   
  
Everybody was ready and they had their eyes on him the moment he came in.  
  
" Jones, anything on the scanners? Yes sir, I've got one object heading this way now, no match on a possible identification. " Both Scott and the admiral ran over to the scanner console.   
  
Somehow, Jones had managed to switch the scanner screens over to visual so they were now giving an accurate picture of what was going on out there.  
  
Jones was indeed right, a ship was appearing on a heading straight for them. And it was big, really big. What was that thing that was coming in their  
direction?  
  
  
A normal centurion unit entered the command chamber. Spectre turned around.  
  
" Report Centurion. Scanner shows the Galactica moving towards us very slowly. No vipers have been launched yet. Load all weapons - the centurion knowing this was all said -By your command." turned around and headed for the exit of the command chamber.  
  
The baseship continued its heading.  
  
  
" What in the hell is this!" Jones suddenly called out, a face had suddenly appeared on one of the starboard monitors and began to speak in their own language.  
  
" I am commander Adama. I know that I will soon be joining the other lords of Kobol, the grounders of our society therefore, I desire these to be my final words. Incase this ship will be lost you are to do the following. plot out a course for Earth and activate the marron drive and use the paintfield  
  
to cover her escape."  
  
There was a pause before the man went on.  
  
" Incase anyone from the planet earth, our long lost brothers of the thirteenth tribe, will find this ship and discover this recording,"  
  
The screen blinked and went black. Since both Scott and Spencer had also seen the tape, Jones wondered what was going to happen next.  
  
Scott was the first one to tell him. " Mr Jones, activate all laser controls we're going to need them." Spencer turned to Scott  
  
" belay that order, lieutenant, Captain Scott, isn't it a bit more important that we..."  
the rest of his question dissapeared in the explosion that shook the entire bridge.  
  
" Jones, what was that?" Jones overlooked the whole of the console in front of him. Lights were quickly appearing.  
  
" Captain, that explosion just knocked all the ships systems  
back on line again." Both Scott and Spencer could see that it was true, all of the mysterious ships systems were activating   
  
"Maybe that explosion is the real cause." Harrison commented.  
  
" Target is now locked." Jones reported. He added that he didn't have instrument control anyway. By then the lasers had already opened fire.  
  
" We're firing sir." Scott then reported to Spencer.  
  
From the screens on the console, both Scott and Spencer were able to see what was going on outside.  
  
Suddenly and to Spencer's surprise, Scott said " That's her, that's the bloody thing that nearly captured us." Jones confirmed it.  
  
By then, the ship had passed the baseship. " Harrison, bring us around, second pass."   
  
Just as suddenly as the first explosion had caused a shockwave, there was another.  
  
" Jones, what was that? That other ship, sir, it desintegrated."  
  
They all breathed a sign of relief, they were safe for now.  
  
A bit later, they were back aboard the space station, in  
Spencer's office, planning.  
  
" It's obvious she's a warship admiral, but I don't see how  
they used the pods on port and starboard."  
  
" Well I do, you see I happen to agree with you, I also think it's a man of war but using those pods only for shuttles makes no sense therefore,  
they had to have had fighters or something, don't know how many."   
  
It was then he noticed how Scott was studying his find through the large panorama window. " You want to find them, don't you?" there was  
a short pause before Scott answered " I sure as hell do. "  
  
  
CHAPTER ONE   
  
Time passed. Scott and the Star Voyager crew managed to locate quite a bit of information on the ship and her former crew. By now, they had also made out a map of the entire ship.  
  
There were no empty spots on the map, thanks to the file that the former owners had left behind.  
  
But, not everything was the same. All the old equipment on the bridge had been replaced by state of the art Earth technology.  
  
Spencer and Scott had spent a lot of time in the old quarters of the commander, decoding and translating the ships log and commander Adama's personal log. They managed to nearly finish the whole thing.  
  
  
Four years passed in this manner.   
  
they were ready for it now, the most incredible journey an earthling had ever taken, was about to begin.  
  
  
Shuttles were still arriving with supplies destined for the Galactica.  
  
Scott had noticed the name appear quite a number of times in the commanders log. And after very closely examining a photograph, or whatever it was that the former owners had called it, he came to the conclusion that this ship had that beatiful name attached to her.  
  
But, there was one thing that puzzled him.  
  
There were a couple of   
  
log entries that came up with two names.  
  
The first one he came across, was Pegasus. The second, was Atlantia. And before the Pegasus, came a whole list of other ships, 220 in all. A couple had been marked destroyed.  
  
  
  
His thoughts were interrupted as Jones came in.  
  
" Well, we've finally finished loading all the supplies oh, em what about the design for those fighters that we found?"  
  
" What about them, Jones?"  
  
"Well, each of those pods can contain about a hundred craft, andfrom what I've seen, we have four squadrons and the pilots to fly them. Those craft have afcourse been changed over to our technological standards."  
  
"They're really enthusiastic volunteers, those pilots?"  
  
" I hope so, they need to be able to survive in what is essentially an unknown enviroment." Jones remarked. Then he headed out for the bridge.  
  
Scott noticed it. Everything was ready. Carter came over to him   
  
" All present and accounted for sir, Space command has just cleared our departure." Carter now held the rank of deckofficer. Scott went over to the console where Carter was now seated.  
  
" Helm, standby to move out, at your best velocity if you please. Aye sir." Scott took a look at the forward viewer, they were rapidly moving forward.  
  
" Carter, report to Space command, the starship Galactica is now underway under her own power." Jones was sure that Scott felt like the captain of  
another ship, which a very long time ago had used those same words.  
  
Without trouble they reached the end of the solar system.   
  
" Jones, you have the bridge, if there is anything, call me immediatly." Jones just nodded. The ship would be in good hands.  
  
Scott left for the pilots ready room wich, at the same time acted as one of the messes. As he got there he heard a couple of very loud voices.  
  
" I am telling you that it's true, we're fighter pilots not for anything else!" by then, Scott was already there and he shouted " Ten-shun!"  
  
Pilots and other offduty personnel assembled in the mess jumped up as if they had been stung.  
  
Scott observed them well as he walked towards the bar. He wondered about their uniforms, they weren't the standard space command ones, in fact, he had never seen the uniforms these pilots were wearing.   
  
" First, where did you get those uniforms? Second, Yes, you are fighter pilots, that means that you're supposed to be flying for this ship, not worrying about what you're here for." Scott didn't realise he was beginning to get upset with these men and women.  
  
" And, don't worry if you're dead you're dead, there's nothing we can do about that." he had said every word loud so that all of them could hear. One of the pilots then came forward.   
  
" Sir, we found these uniforms in our quarters, they all fit really well. Thank you." Then he noticed how one of the pilots, a woman, was watching her surroundings. Time to call it quits, he thought.   
" Dismissed!" he heard somebody other then himself say.  
  
The pilots and other crewmembers returned to whatever it was they were doing before Scott had entered, except for the woman, she came towards him.  
  
" Captain." she said with a smooth, relaxed voice.  
  
" Lieutenant." he gave back. Hamilton, a nice name. " Er sir, may I talk with you in private. Yes, sure." they left and headed for Scott's quarters.  
  
He sat down behind the desk, she was in front of it.   
  
" Captain, in my family there is a story running wich has something to do with my grandmother.  
  
" you have my ear."  
  
" Well, she was on her way to a job interview as she picked up two strange guys. They asked her if she could bring them to doctor Mortenson."   
  
" You mean that guy that designed all of the Space command vessels? Yes sir, the very same one." She responded.  
  
" They found him and, they managed to leave him a message in one of his early formulas but, they were arrested, case of mistaken identity."  
  
" Go on, please."  
  
" They escaped, flew to New York, did something there, returned and found their ships in the hands of the US airforce. They called her and so, they managed to reach the airforce base. Now, comes the important part.  
Those two men started a decoy wich enabled them to reach their  
ships, one of wich was a double seater, by then, grandma was aboard and managed to start up all the systems aboard."   
  
The line the lieutenant then said came as a total shock to Scott.  
  
After she had finished the story, Scott said " Lieutenant, keep this story to yourself until we have managed to locate them." He pointed to an obelisk like statue on the desk, where a few photos had been put into.  
  
Lieutenant Hamilton then left.  
  
Another piece of the puzzle had fallen into its place, a piece  
that Scott didn't quit comprehend nor like.  
  
The Galactica calmly sailed into deeper space. Suddenly Scott realised it. It was time for the first recon flight.  
  
Jake Carter, a lieutenant like Hamilton walked out from the  
  
elevator corridor, he was an ex military pilot and to the dark haired Carter, this was an extraordinary opportunity.  
  
At his side was Chrissy Cain, a female ex Mars three thousand racer.  
  
The both of them had enlisted for the unique deep space opportunity.  
  
And now, they were there. Carter walked around the ship,  
checking it before he got in.  
  
By then, Cain was already being strapped in by her ground crew. She put on her helmet and began entering the waypoints for the patrol route into the flight computer.  
  
By then, Carter was also stepping into his cockpit as well.  
  
" Roger launch control, coordinates received, coded and locked." the two canopys came down as Carter repeated the procedure.  
  
" Course systems for Romeo patrol, launch when ready." The moment he heard the word ready, Carter pushed a button on the control stick that was marked turbo. He was followed by lieutenant Cain a few seconds later.  
  
They went into a left bank. " What a speed! Hey Chrissy, do you think we'll ever find the place the Galactica came from?  
  
Carter heard Cain laugh " I sure hope so, it would be very interesting to meet pilots from another place."   
  
by now they were far away from the Galactica, which was now only a blink of  
light between the millions of other stars.  
  
  
As they were coming near a small solar system, They picked up a very weak signal coming from somewhere. Since Carter was patrol leader, he reported his find to the Galactica. Scott ordered an immediate change of course to find the source of the signal.  
  
The phone woke him. It kept on ringing. He picked up the connector " Captain here. Captain, we've found the origin of the distress signal, we've already changed course towards it."  
  
" I'll be right there Jones." then he hung up. Scott was on the bridge a few moments later.  
  
" We have signal lock sir, it's on the fourth moon the place is so close to the sun that it allows an atmosphere but it does not allow any vegetation. Ready a shuttle and escort, their target 's the fourth moon."  
  
ten minutes later Jones reported " We're on route, we have a  
  
three viper escort."  
  
The Galactica was hovering over the planet as Jones reported that they were on the ground.  
  
One of the vipers, being piloted by Chrissy Cain was acting as an overhead lookout.   
  
" Lieutenant Jones, this is Cain I have a reading on zero two eight, on the ground it's not moving sir, suggest you approach with caution."  
  
" Roger Cain,can you tell me anything more?"  
  
" No sir, the thing isn't moving and it's positively a matter form."  
  
" Thank you lieutenant, Jones out."  
  
Turning to his men he said " Okay men, we're probably being watched so be  
careful." Jones' men nodded and spread out.  
  
In the very distance was a large and steep formation of cliffs. Exactly the place where the matterform was holed up, according to the viper scanner.  
  
As Jones looked again, he noticed a small flash. So, he can see us too, hey, well now, let's give him a surprise. Jones took his own powerful binoculars out of his backpack and pointed them towards the cliffs, to the place where he had just yet seen the flash of light.  
  
  
There indeed was a pair of binoculars. And, they were pointed straight at him. Behind those binoculars there seemed to be hair, silver hair. A man, there was a man living on this planet or whatever it was.  
  
  
Jones took out his radio " Calling lieutenant Cain, calling lieutenant Cain."   
  
"Cain here. Listen lieutenant, can you make a diagonal pass over the high cliffs in front of me and tell me what you see. Understood."  
  
On the high cliffs in front of Jones, somebody looked up. He heard something that he hadn't for a very long time.  
  
Yes, there, there it was. The thunder, the flames. Then it began to slow down and head straight for him. What was that, that's not their style, this isn't how they were being taught, who are those guys down here. Just after the thing had passed him, it picked up speed and headed back up.  
  
Then it struck him, the faces he had seen, where human, but how could other humans unless,....... he decided to chance it.  
  
He got up and raised his arms in such a way that they could see that he was surrendering, and began to climb down.  
  
They were waiting for him at the bottom. As he turned around, he noticed their faces.  
  
faces, yes, they had faces. but that couldn't be, they, they were supposed to be a million lightyears from this place. Then he looked at the uniforms.  
  
All of the crew that had boarded the shuttle were wearing the famed chocolate chip desert camouflage. The Galactica sure as hell didn't have those when he was aboard.  
  
" We're from the Galactica, Sir . " Jones looked at the older man. well, he thought, at least that is something I can solve back on the ship.  
  
The shuttle was joined by its three viper escort as it lifted off the surface and headed back towards the Galactica.  
  
Captain Scott wasn't there to meet an old crewmember addition to his own crew but, Jones received word that he would visit.  
  
he wondered but didn't ask, as he was escorted to what used to be the life station.  
  
" There hasn't been a significant change? or has there?"  
  
He asked the medic nurse as she came in. From her face he could see that he wasn't going to get an answer. Then somebody in a white coat answered " Don't worry about her, she's just a bit scared, I'm doctor Craig, medical officer. You would not happen to be lieutenant Starbuck would you ?"  
  
From the expression on his face, Craig remarked " You're thinking, how does he know that, right?"  
  
" Kinda. " starbuck immediatly replied.  
  
" Well to begin with, the captain would like to see you in flying shape, in case we run in to any real trouble, and, I do not see any reason to argue with him." Craig started the full physical examination and exactly one hour later, he was finished and began to feed the data into the computer.  
  
By then, a uniform had been brought in.  
  
Starbuck heard a door open automatically. As he turned around there was a man standing in the door opening.  
  
He noticed quit a bit of gold on his uniform sleeves, he also saw that the same uniform wasn't the uniform of a colonial commander.  
  
The man walked over to Craig, the only man Starbuck knew aboard this ship and asked " Doc, how's our find of the week doing?"  
  
"He's still in good shape sir, two weeks of physical training with the Marines and perhaps a refresher course would do miracles."  
  
"Good oh, sorry, forgot to introduce myself, I'm captain James Scott. You also seem to know a lot about this ship."  
  
" What makes you think that?"  
  
" Well, when they brought you in, you were asking about a certain Cassei, we don't have anyone like that aboard." At that remark Starbuck frowned.   
  
Cassieopeia had always been quite the survivor.  
  
" You're right, captain. I do know this ship. I used to be a fighter pilot, flying those vipers, from here. Untill I got shot down that is."  
  
Somehow Starbuck felt he was in good hands now.  
  
" Viper?"  
  
"Yeah, those skinny little things that were escorting the shuttle and the one that was flying over my head diagonally."  
  
"Oh, I see." remarked a now enlightened Scott.  
  
" What are those vipers anyway? Fighters."   
  
" Fighters? " Though Scott was a pilot himself, he had never really bothered to look up the specifics about each craft in the space command inventory.  
  
" Like interceptors, means of defence or assault." A not quite  
comprehending Starbuck told Scott.  
  
It was then that Scott launched his own bombshell.  
  
" I would like you to go back to flying them."  
  
" why?"  
  
" I am in need of experienced pilots, combat experienced pilots, if you can train some of my pilots that would be enough, they would have to pass on thier knowledge I think." There was a long moment of absolute silence as Starbuck thought about it.   
  
" No way, not again, I've been trough a whole lot of things, that made me take an oath that I would never fly again. Not even if-" He was interupted by the sounding of red alert.  
  
" Come on, you'll see why I asked." Starbuck quickly followed Scott to  
the bridge.   
  
On the bridge, there was a bit of confusion. But, as soon as Scott and Starbuck had arrived, things changed.   
  
" Jones, what have we got now? Three blips, two large ones and one big one,  
heading straight for us. Launchbays report readyness, all squadrons ready to launch. Launch when ready." Scott answered. Then he turned to Starbuck but, the silverhaired lieutenant was gone.  
  
Scott smiled, and picked up a headset " flight deck, clear out an extra viper, the pilot should be there very shortly." A few moments later, he got a confirming signal from the starboard flight deck.  
  
The blips were still approaching at the same steady speed.   
  
Scott wondered, " Alright, Red squadron, launch two vipers, heading three five five." A couple of moments later, the monitors showed two vipers launching.  
  
" Which two?"  
  
" Which two what sir? Which two vipers have launched? Oh er, lieutenant Cain  
and that Starbuck guy."  
  
Scott said nothing. he hoped that Starbuck could make out who they were facing now.  
  
About three hundred thousand kilometres away from the Galactica, Starbuck was in trouble. The two blips that the scanner had brought up, were the advance patrol of a Cylon baseship.  
  
Both the ships, were new, the likes of wich he had never seen before. One of them, had managed to get on his tail very early.  
  
And he was now using every manouvre in his colonial warriors book to escape. He wasn't succeeding.  
  
" Hold on, captain, I'm on his rear end." Chrissy shouted over the radio.  
  
Starbuck looked at his scanner. Indeed she was.  
  
" Firing." He then heard.  
  
He didn't know that Chrissy had locked on to the strange ships two engines.  
  
" Starbuck, turbo run on my mark." There was a short pause   
  
" Mark!"  
  
At the same moment that Chrissy had fired, she banked to the left while Starbuck, trying to get clear from the explosion that would follow, banked right.  
  
As she sensed the light passing her, Chrissy turned around to look, the strange ship had been completely obliverated. Yet, there still was the  
second ship, which wasted no time launching its laser fire at the two vipers.   
  
They split up again.   
  
This time, the strange ship flew through but made a bank to the right, rolled and went after Chrissy. However, Starbuck had already realised that his wingman had found the weakness of the strange ship.  
  
  
Now, he was ready to repeat the tactic. And did so. With remarkable succes. The second ship was destroyed as well.  
  
Then he recognized the large ship they were dealing with.  
  
" It's a Cylon ship, let's get out of here, that's healthyer,  
don't you think." without saying anything, Cain banked her ship and headed in another direction. Starbuck followed her.  
  
  
  
They were soon contacted by the Galactica. " Starbuck, Cain, are the two of you alright? Yes sir, thanks to teamwork. Oh, there's a Cylon ship on course three zero, I do not think it's a civilian, but I suggest that we take evasive action."  
  
Scott didn't reply but was pensive.  
  
" Okay, captain I want to discuss something when you're back." then the communications were ended.  
  
Something was here, right in the quarters of the commander. It, it, was like, a ghost. Yes, a ghost but what was it saying. He could clearly see the shape of a muscled, fit person wearing something blue, but it couldn't be made out, the light behind it was to bright.   
  
The mouth of the ghost, was visible through the sharp light and as he looked very sharply, Scott was able to see that it was repeating something. He was observing the mouth very closely now. It was a word. He followed the lips as  
they spelled it out " Gamoray, Gamoray."  
  
But what did it mean? Before he knew it he was awake and reaching for the  
computer. And not much later, he found what he had been looking  
for.  
  
" Gamoray, the former planet of the Delfian empire, is now a Cylon colony. It is being used as a fueling station for their ships. We have tried to take one of the convoys on route for the planet but, we failed. therefore we were forced to launch a direct attack against the planet with the aid of the battlestar Pegasus wich was presumed lost at the battle of Molocay. We very nearly didn't  
survive. Although I wonder how much the Cylons have lost, I am even more worried about our own eventual losses."   
  
Since the computer had acess to the navigational database it wasn't hard to find the star chart that included Gamoray and the late Delfian empire.  
  
Then he began to back track the route from their own current position.  
  
His marker came to a stop on something called the Great Void. His finger rested briefly on Kobol. Then he followed the course again until he found what he was looking for.  
  
His curiosity getting the better of him, Scott opened the log files again. This time, he did a search for any references to Kobol and Gamoray.   
  
To the surprise of many crewmembers working the nightshift, they could see their captain running towards the pilots barracks at full speed.  
  
He reached the barracks in record time.  
  
As if time wasn't on his side, he ran through the corridor, looking for a clue. Then, Starbuck's room came.  
  
Then he stood right in front of the answer. The answer to some of Kobol's  
mysteries, and perhaps to the origins of this ship.  
  
The door hushed open.  
  
There was dust, everywhere. But he also noticed that there was something in the distance of the room. He walked towards it. It looked like a dog. But then, as he felt it, he noticed it wasn't. His hand softly  
touched the other materials until, he found something that felt  
like a switch.   
  
There was something that sounded like a combination of a bark and a growl as the lights went on.  
  
It was Starbuck.  
  
" Captain, are you in here?" He switched on the light as he heard the sound of moving objects. He was astounded, Scott was indeed there and, on top of him, was a robotdog, also known to his people as a daggit. But, the fleet didn't have any daggits aboard until " Muffit?" He asked looking incrediously.  
  
Scott, who could then noticed the dog turn around. Scott turned his attention towards the closets and lockers around the room. As he opened one of  
the drawers, he discovered some cristals and another strange object.  
  
He took it out. " Starbuck, please close the door behind you." Starbuck  
promptly did that as he noticed to whom the cristals had belonged " I have a feeling that the last owner won't object to your using them, sir." He remorsedly remarked.  
  
But Scott didn't hear him. He was already focused on trying  
to fix the recorder, sitting right next to the closet where he had found it. Starbuck joined him. Then as he thought he had fixed it, Scott put a cristal in one of the openings and worked a button.  
  
Nothing happened.  
  
He tried something different. Again nothing happened.  
  
Then he asked " Starbuck, you know who this recorder belonged to?"  
  
To his own surprise, Starbuck still knew " An old friend of mine by the name  
of Apollo. He was the top viper commander aboard the ship, and a good friend."   
  
Starbuck seemed saddened. " I'll let it rest captain, and i'll also declare these quarters off limits for everybody. What about the daggit? Want it? " Starbuck's face said enough.  
  
He, wasn't going to take it, for it reminded him of a great many things that had happened a long time ago.  
  
So Scott said " Come on Muffit, we're going for a walk. " The daggit didn't follow him. Scott not knowing what was up walked out and didn't look back.  
  
As he was in his quarters, it finally showed up behind one of the causeways. Scott wondered about the daggit. But it didn't bother him to much. The daggit sat down. And was quiet again. Jones came in and nearly tripped over Muffit.  
  
" Woow, what is that thing?" he asked.  
  
" A daggit. A what?!" Jones looked at it incrediously.  
  
" A daggit, a kind of dog."  
  
  
" Oh, by the way, we're heading straight for some kind of black  
hole, there's a star just in front of it, not very bright anymore but, she's pulsating every sixteen hours, in fact she she's just done so, you're kinda out of luck sir."  
  
Scott just sighed.  
  
Jones continued " According to the log we found, the magnetic void is just beyond the star, together with the planet Kobol. Think we can find anything on the planet? No, I doubt it, the environment planetside is almost gone, it would be highly inadvisable."   
  
Scott nodded " Begin making preparations for entering the void." Jones got up and left again.  
  
There was work to be done on the bridge.  
  
Scott got to the bridge fifteen minutes after Jones. They  
had already closed on the void.  
  
" Navigation reports scanner lock on the void sir, we're getting yellow alert warnings from the computer. Decrease speed to one third, Mr Cartwright. Aye, sir." Cartwright answered.  
  
The stars went back to being bright dots in the distance. " Captain, I am worried, we've gotten very far and, we haven't met any true trace of the enemy yet. They could be waiting behind the void for us and we wouldn't have any clue to what had happened. Personaly speaking, lieutenant, I think you're right  
but I also think we ought to risk it. Who dares wins, and we'll see about the other side when we get there." that settled it.  
  
The Galactica continued on, and entered the void.  
  
From the moment they had entered, all the equipment had gone mad.  
  
" Would you look at that Jones, the void is so magnetical  
y charged that it puts every bit of equipment of line." Scott remarked as he tried to see if there was a star that they could fix on.  
  
As their equipment slowly came back to its normal status, the whole bridge crew breathed a sigh of relief.  
  
sometime later, they had left the void behind them.  
  
" Helmsman, set your course for Gamoray, I want to get some fuel there. Aye sir." the helmswoman replyed back.  
  
The Galactica was back where she had come from.  
  
CHAPTER TWO  
  
As the thief through the night, the once mighty battlestar raced through the star systems towards a bright planet, a planet where long ago a great battle had taken place. A great battle between two battlestars and three baseships. Now, one of those battlestars had returned. The Galactica was back at Gamoray.  
  
At the same time the Galactica neared Gomorra, another ship was also closing in. It wasn't a Cylon ship yet, it could easily be taken for one. It was the battlestar Pegasus. Still under the command of Cain, the greatest military commander of colonial history. He had nearly lost his life and his ship when going against three base ships during the battle of Gamoray but, miraculously, he had survived, and now he was heading back, almost out of fuel.  
  
But, he didn't know that there were four base ships waiting for him.  
  
" Captain, I've got another ship also heading for the planet but, it isn't one of those ships we encountered, the configuration matches us, there are also four of those joined together saucer sections waiting for her."  
  
" Battlestations!" was the only thing Scott replied. The next moment, the red combat illumination was activated and the alert was sounded " Positive shield now." A shield came down over the metal viewer.  
  
Scott turned so that he could see all the monitors. In the distance he noticed the other battlestar, she was still aproaching the first two base ships.   
  
The battle began.  
  
" Helm, bring us behind those four base ships, Carter, prepare all weapon systems, we're going to need them."  
  
Turning back to the monitors, he noticed how the Pegasus was also beginning to fire. Round after round hit the base ship on starboard then, missiles were launched towards the starboard ship. Moments later it exploded.  
  
But now, the three remaining base ships began to fire on the lonely battlestar. Jones interrupted him " We have the target locked, sir, all weapons are locked onto target and we're ready to fire."  
" Engage the middle ship of those three, we're going to give them a hand."  
  
With that order, the Galactica entered the battle.  
  
Much to the commanders surprise, one of his centurion units came to him to report the arrival of another battlestar in this battle.  
  
" Batlestar Galactica, position omega six. Fire rear alpha battery. " was the commanders reply. But, it was too late.  
  
The first shots of the Galactica had already hit the foremost weaponry of the base ship. But, she could still return fire.  
  
Inside on the bridge, they could hear the shots hit the hull. But somehow, it didn't sound to disturbing to Scott.  
  
" Captain, we're turning for use of missiles. Understood, launch when ready." Scott calmly answered to the situation change.   
  
  
  
By now, the Pegasus had destroyed a second baseship, while the Galactica had  
destroyed only one.   
  
There was still one base ship left. " Lateral lasers deployed." From the flightpods and from the main hull, a steady stream of shot was poured into the remaining baseship, until it, finally, disappeared into vapor as well.  
  
The Pegasus went past the Galactica and came to a dead stop right over Gamoray. From the monitors and the forward viewer everybody could see that they were sending down shuttles.  
  
However, one of those shuttles came in their direction. As he noticed it, Scott said " Dress uniforms and honour guard to the port bay. Official welcoming." then he left the bridge for his quarters. The moment the shuttles entrance hatch was opened, he was there as well.  
  
Two men came out first. Apparently, they formed some sort of honor guard. Then there were two men again. One of them, had a very long beard. He was supported by what appeared to be an officer.  
  
At that very moment, the bosn's mates blew their whistles. The shriek tone echoed through the large pod meanwhile, the officers and other men present in the bay saluted.  
  
Scott came forward " Welcome aboard the Galactica, sir." The man with the beard nodded toward his support " Gentlemen, commander Cain of the battlestar Pegasus."  
  
the word echoed through Scott's brain as if he had only just finished reading the logpassage about that name and the man behind it.  
  
" Please follow me to my quarters, Lieutenant Jacobs, dismiss the men when we're out of here." A lieutenant replied to him.   
  
The two men followed Scott and Jones to Scott's personal quarters. A conference was going to be held.  
  
" Mr Scott, what is you rank and your point of departure?"  
  
" Earth, I am a captain, the captain of this ship." there was a  
short pause as the other officer and the man called Cain deliberated.  
  
" Very well, captain Scott, what brought you here, to this galaxy?" Scott thought for a moment. Should he tell them or should he just ask them for the course to the planet Cylon.  
  
" I believe I can locate the former owners of this vessel, if you want to say the missing crew, that's find by me." Scott made a break so that the full effect of those words reached them.  
  
" Very well, but, I'll tell you this, you've also located some more employers of the former owners as you call our people and, we'll help but, it isn't going to be easy." the other man looked at Cain, it was probably the long time the man had not spoken and now, he just had.  
  
" Anyway, I am glad to be back among humans again." the entrance door to the room then hushed open. A mess attendant brought in four bottles on a tray, together with the tray, he put down four glasses.  
  
Then he walked out. All of this took under one minute to complete.  
  
Scott noticed how strange the two officers looked as they poured their glasses. " Commander Cain, a toast, a toast to our succes in finding the crew of the Galactica."  
  
Suddenly the ship's intercom system crackled " Captain to the bridge,  
captain to the bridge." A few moments later, Scott was on the bridge, Cain and his now introduced second officer not far behind.  
  
As Scott got on the pedestal, he noticed it.  
  
There were ships appearing. " From looking at the long range scanner, captain, I would say a lot more are on route. Any idea on how many? No sir." Harris, who was on the command console then said " Captain, I have a strong  
signal on secure line one."  
  
" that's our fleet com line Alpha! It's a scrambled line for communication between our warships" Cain's second officer had emphasized the our part.  
  
" Put it through."  
A few moments later, a very familiar face appeared on the  
left monitor.  
  
" Well, well, Captain Scott, so we meet again." Scott was surprised, according to their chronometers, they were at least ten years away from Earth, and in lightyears, it was even much more.  
  
" admiral Spencer, what brings you into the new world?"   
  
" You kind of do, Scott we're at war now, officially. Could you brief me aboard please sir, I need to introduce you to someone as well."  
  
Spencer was aboard not much later. After a brief introduction to Commander Cain and his history, the admiral gave the captain the story of the events in Earth space while he was away.  
  
" Five years after your departure, we managed to complete a complete squadron of those ships. Three days, three days after their completion, we took them into service. We had to, three of those joined together saucer sections, I believe you called them baseships came right up to the planet. The squadron was the only thing that stopped them. And it did. It cost us nearly all of our fighters. The surviving pilots spend the next years in training and rebuilding our fighter reserves. Now, we have a training squadron and a normal squadron to protect our own solar system. The rest of the ships we build were send after you after it became apparent that we are at war."  
  
" A war to save ourselves." Cain suddenly remarked.  
  
Spencer nodded. " It sure as hell looks like it. Anyway James, we're also stacked to the hilts with supplies for your crew. I suggest you set up a shuttle chain."  
  
At Scott's nod, Harris started issueing the flight assignements.  
  
" Oh something different, I got a couple of troop transports with me, I'm going to land them on the planet. I figure Gamoray being a fuelbase, it would serve our purpose well."  
  
Cain now nodded " if your goal still is to rescue the crew of the Galactica from Cylon. Gamoray will serve you very well."  
  
Spencer then excused himself. He had far more work to do with the planning of all the required fleet operations.  
  
Out in space, shuttles began to leave the bays of all the ships in polar orbit over Gamoray. They headed down towards the foremost Cylon logistical station. When they landed, the shuttles first disembarked troops that fanned out across the entire bay. Then the shuttle crew took in as many fuel and munition canisters as they could seize.  
  
This operation lasted two days. By then, the first signs could be made out that there was a new force in the galaxy, and that it was a force that had to be reckoned with.  
  
The crew of the Galactica enyoed her first shoreleave in a very long time. But Scott and Jones weren't so lucky. They had to attend, together with Cain, quite a lot of staff briefings.  
  
But, it was a bit more relaxing then contstantly being on the  
move from one planet to another.  
  
One month after their arrival at Gomorra, the Galactica and the Pegasus led a force of earth battlestars deep into new uncharted enemy territory. Their mission was on.  
  
In front of their first destination, the crew of the Galactica was startled in seeing the remnants of a planet. Scott used the computer to locate the planet it was supposed to have been.   
  
" Carrilon, Or what's left of it." Starbuck remarked as he saw their position.   
  
" Lieutenant, ready the laser batterys, we're going into a mine field, Positive shield, readying laserbatteries." the lieutenant quickly carried out the orders.  
  
A few moments later, the Galactica entered the Straits of Madagon again.   
  
They were right in the middle of the clear corridor, the one that Starbuck had helped to create. " Continue on this heading, captain we should be out of there in a short period of time."  
  
Starbuck was still watching the scanners intently. He hadn't heard of any mines that were magnetically attracted to a ship but, suddenly he heard from navigation   
  
" Moving mine, heading three six zero, on collision course."  
  
"Activate laserbatterys." The automatic targetscanners picked up  
the mine very quickly and with one burst, it was disposed of.  
  
Not much later, the Galactica was coming out of the nova of  
Madagon. Starbuck felt at ease. This sure as hell beat flying  
around in a skinny fighter with the canopy covered up to  
prevent going blind, with the very big risk of hitting a mine  
without knowing it.  
  
The second ship to come out of the nova, was the Pegasus.  
  
The third was Spencer's Enterprise. They formed a small line to  
cover the exit of the other ships. Wich came out one by one. As  
soon as they were complete, the force went further on their  
route.  
  
On another planet, totally grey and devastated by very heavy industry, a man was walking to and from the sides of the large room. He wondered what had happened, Gamoray had fallen and yet, there wasn't a trace left of the forces that were expecting the Pegasus.  
  
Four baseships, that was what he had put in front of the planet. And now, a report had been send that the planet was under a full scale assault.  
  
Baltar was worried. This was the first time, after he had become imperious leader, that there was trouble.  
  
Without him sensing it, Lucifer, his aide and advisor came in.  
  
" I wonder when you wonder, imperious leader."  
  
" Speak!"  
  
" Still no word from your Pegasus force. The scoutships we send  
down, have also disappeared."  
  
By then, Baltar was thinking. He came up with one option quite quickly.  
  
The Pegasus had somehow managed to destroy them. He dismissed the thought very quickly.  
  
Baltar walked over to the diamont shaped window and looked out over Cylon. In the distance he saw the Kryon mountains.  
  
Right above them, was the slave station. The place where all prisoners and slaves would arrive. Most of the prisoners would be put to work together with the slaves. But, some of the prisoners and slaves were out of luck, they would be put to death, one way or another. He was lucky. He had disposed of the  
last imperious leader before he was the one that was to be disposed of.  
  
Then he noticed that Lucifer was still standing there.  
  
" What about the rebel fleet?"   
  
" They have retreated again, This time, I propose that we dothings differently."  
  
" Yes, Lucifer, for once you are right. We ought to take drastic measures this time. Call in the main force, hide them on the far side of the planet."   
  
This was the most drastic measure that he could think of.  
  
He, Baltar, then went over to the starchart of the complete Cylonic system.   
  
There also were a couple of other possibilities in this system. Cylon would be ready, but would it be for the Galactica and her fleet or, would it be for the rebel fleet?  
  
The fleet of captain James Scott, lay on the edge of the Cylon system. It had taken them fifteen years in all to reach the planet they were looking for. A lot shorter then it took the Galactica on the first yourney towards Earth.  
  
He wondered as Spencer and the other captains came in. A special conference had been ordered by Cain aboard the Galactica. He hadn't said what for.  
  
Cain had the chart of the Cylonic system brought up and pointed at one place in particular.  
  
" Cylon. The centre of all evil ever done to man. The way I see it, we have a plan with three separate operations." A picture taken via the scanners appeared on the briefing screen.  
  
" One takedown, destruction or whatever you want to call it of the  
defences. Second: liberation of all captives.  
Third: Evacuation and retreat. " there was a short pause. Both Spencer and Scott noticed that Cain was getting effect on the rest of the captains assembled.  
  
but, one of them asked " Commander Cain, has our target been reconoitered? No but, I know that a couple of the Galactica's vipers have the means to cloak themselves. I suggest that you use these means well." At that Scott and Jones looked at each other profusely, they sure as hell didn't know that.  
  
So for the next couple of hours everybody present at the conference, worked together with Cain to complete the rescue plan.  
  
Immediatly after the conference was over, A viper was launched with a course towards Cylon.  
  
Starbuck, was in the pilot's seat while behind him, Chrissy  
Cain was readying the scanners for an all out scan of the planet and its surroundings.  
  
" We're coming into longrange scanner area. Standby to  
activate our cloak. Standing by." Was Chrissy her answer.  
  
"Activate cloak. Activating cloak." the viper disappeared, even from all the scanners of the Cylon defence system.  
  
" Wow, I'm recording a pretty big amount of data here. Felgercarb, we're in trouble. What, what is it?" a now frightened Cain asked   
  
" Take look in front of us, lieutenant." Cain opened her eyes very wide. From as far as she could see, there were baseships. Starbuck suddenly realized it.   
  
The mainforce, imperious leader had to have called back the mainforce. but why?  
  
Suddenly all the ships began to move. Starbuck, who valued life more then death made a right bank. By now they were clear of the moving ships.  
  
" I want to follow them." Cain suddenly said, not knowing why, Starbuck asked  
  
" Why? There has to be a reason they're moving out. I want to know what it is." it made sense to him but... his curiosity got the edge of him, again  
So, they followed the baseships to the other side of the planet. What they saw about to begin there, troubled Starbuck immensly.  
  
There were baseships on the side of Cylon, but there were other ships moving towards them as well. And, those other ships were baseships, too.  
  
Cain kept on scanning as the other baseships opened fire.  
They were hitting the baseships over Cylon with everything they  
had. But, on the other side, nothing happened. Again the strange baseships came closer.  
  
Only now did the planetside Cylon ships fire.  
  
" Chrissy, did you scan those strange baseships approaching Cylon?" there was no reply, Chrissy Cain was figuring out what to say to Starbuck " Captain, they read no lifesigns!"  
  
" that's odd, keep up your scans, let me know the moment you come across anything unusual."  
  
Cain couldn't answer to that. She was to busy observing the battle.  
  
But, Starbuck decided to call it quits. After they had completed five more  
sweeps, they returned to the fleet with their exiting news.   
  
Back in his quarters, Scott was surprised but he knew it was the only chance they had. " Send a message to admiral Spencersaying that it is my opinion that we ought to start moving out as soon as possible. Those other baseships aren't going to be there forever, and you can quote me on that."   
  
Jones quickly ran to the communications section of the ship. About ten minutes later, he reported that the message had been send.  
  
Somewhat later again, Jones could also see the Pegasus dispatching a shuttle towards the planet.  
  
The first report was " Admiral Spencer has also launched the Special Space Operations Group, they're about five minutes behind cain's commando party."   
  
" Alright, engineering one third speed ahead. Helm, steady as she goes, course towards the seventh planet of the system." not much later, they were on  
route.  
  
The rest of the battlestars were quick to follow. The special forces would be the ones to liberate the Galactican captives.  
  
Chapter three  
  
There was one special hut in the first Kryon mountain prison camp, and for those still surviving, it spelled unmentionable doom. Once you were in it, you would never come out. But, that night, a former viper mechanic saw something move around inside the forcefield shielded area.  
  
He wondered why the guards didn't see anything. The moment he  
thought about that, the shade disappeared.  
  
The next morning, something was up inside the camp. Captain Nicholas Carter, ( Not related to the viper pilot) noticed how some people were brought out of one of the huts. They weren't taken into the torture chamber they discovered last night but, they were taken to the guard. Then came, out of a separate hut  
another group of men. They seemed human to Carter, but somehow,  
he knew they were not.   
  
The prisoners were set free. They immediatly ran in the direction of the jungle. Just before they reached the jungle, the other group, came after them.  
  
Carter knew what was going to happen, and what he needed to do.  
  
So, he quickly rounded up his men and lead them right through to the jungle.  
  
The group that was being hunted consisted of three men. Two were viperpilots, the other, was the mechanic that had noticed the shade that night. Just before they reached the jungle, they split up and headed in a different direction each.   
  
Carter pretty soon realized what had happened.  
  
He split his force into three groups. leaving himself in charge of the second group. Each of the groups had gotten one mission, rescue the hunted and, if you have to, destroy the hunters.   
  
Not much later, Carter's team was in position on the side of a small stream. They could already hear the daggits or whatever it was the Cylons called them, howling and barking. Their targets were closing in.  
  
Not much later, he got an audio signal from one of his lookouts. The hunters were closing in on their prey and, the hunters prey, was closing in on the river where the Carter was with the others. The moment the viper technician broke through the bushes, he was pulled into cover by two of Carter's team.  
  
The chasers followed not much later.  
  
The two soldiers had made sure that the Cylons could not sniff them out. They had planted some trails that led into the river and then disappeared.  
  
It was clear to Carter, that he was dealing with humanoid robots, all standing in a clearing. They could be shot like twisting an old branch so far until it breaks. But it seemed too easy. The order that he had whispered through was one salvo, followed up with special solium grenades.  
  
Moments later, the dust had cleared. All the hunters had been destroyed, the daggits included. They were joined by the other groups not long thereafter.  
  
They started their move deeper into the mountains, to their landing zone. They reached the designated spot twenty hours after the liberation of the first three prisoners. Shuttles were waiting.  
  
There was a message for Carter as he entered the command cave they had established.  
  
They were about to receive viper support.  
  
Carter immediatly began assembling a new team to take back to the camp.  
  
Half the time they used to get into the mountains, they used to  
get back.  
  
As he noticed in the distance, the vipers had already flown a couple of strikes against the camp. Some pieces of the forcefield had been totally destroyed and the torture hut had been completely demolished.  
  
Carter immediatly lead his team to the camp. The surprise and the shock hit the teammembers the same time they hit Carter.  
  
Some prisoners were still standing, others were just laying on the ground, totally thinned out. As his team went around, it was clear that ten percent of all the prisoners were dead. Carter's radio crackled  
  
" Shuttle group requesting clearance to land. " Carter, still stunned, answered that they were cleared to land.   
  
Overhead, the vipers still flew, heading towards the other side of the planet. Carter wondered what was going on up there.  
  
IN SPACE, James Scott was getting worried. The battle on the other side of the planet was still raging and, behind the group of strange baseships, another one had appeared. From the comrecords found aboard, they were able to figure out that the second part of the main force, was now coming up on the rear of  
the enemy.  
  
By then, Cain was already heading for the other side of the planet, on course for another battle.  
  
Right in front of Baltar's palace, there was the base of a normal Cylon taskforce. They were the first target of Star buck's own squadron. As he heard the shots go off, Baltar ran to the other side of the palace, so that he could see what was going on. His face was stricken with fear the moment he noticed  
the fuel tanks of the base explode. But, he suddenly knew that he could do something about that. He walked over to his comm panel and activated it " Send a signal to the third moon, they are to launch and activate the special project." he didn't even wait to hear the centurion reply.  
  
" Scanners report a large ship launching from the third  
moon, captain. On screen. One of the port console monitor showed a full  
picture of Cylon's third moon. In front of it, therewas a small  
dot that was rapidly growing bigger.  
  
" Enlarge, six times." The dot rapidly became bigger. Jones suddenly recognized the shape.  
  
" It's a battlestar and it sure as hell isn't one of ours. Standby to engage." Scott hollered.   
  
Everywhere on the bridge, men quickly ran to their posts." Send a signal to the Enterprise. Are engaging enemy ship on this side of the planet. please standby."  
  
Moments later, the message reached the Enterprise. Spencer was just in time to see the Galactica move out. Spencer had an idea " Send this to captain Marcus of the Flying Fortress, you're now in command of half the fleet. However, I am assinging you to follow Pegasus and aid her in any way possible. The  
rest of the fleet will remain on station."  
  
A bit later, another battlestar moved out.  
  
She was soon followed by a relatively large group of other  
ships. Who didn't see the Galactica heading for battle.   
  
" Positive shield." The strong metal hatch closed over the  
large forward viewer. The monitors on the console immediatly  
picked up the opposing battlestar as she was changing her  
course. " Fire all batterys." Scott calmly ordered.  
  
The laserbatterys of the Galactica hit its opponnent in the  
flank. Everywhere they looked, the scanners found a target on  
the ship. The Cylons didn't shoot back, yet.  
  
Suddenly, and to Scott's surprise they began to shoot back.  
First the lateral lasers opened up on them then, the rest of  
the laserbatterys quickly followed. The Galactica received hit  
after hit after hit.  
  
To Spencer's surprise, the Galactica broke off the engagement and headed away from the battles area.  
  
Spencer also knew that his ship was going to be next.  
  
" Positive shield, ready all laserbatterys. And, standby to  
engage."   
  
The speaker echoed his orders through the whole ship.  
  
By then, the Cylon battlestar was already firing. but, not much later, the scanners reported an approaching battlestar behind their adversary. That same moment, the enemy battlestar turned around and put up a barrage against her oponnent on her rear.  
  
The echoes of lasershots exploding against the hull didn't sound too frightening to Scott. But, somewhere in his mind, there was a bit of doubt coming up. If this ship has been around for quite a period of time, it's obvious that she has received damage. Thus, how much more, can the old queen take,  
Scott wondered.  
  
" Captain, enemy turning to starboard!!." The sound of Jones' voice brought him back to reality. " Targetscanners, lock on to her flightbays." Immediatly, Scott noticed the pattern of the laserbeams changing directions.   
  
The series of explosions that followed on the bridge threw everybody present there, of their feet.  
  
Scott had to cough as he regained consciousness. There was dust  
everywhere. He got up with difficulty.  
  
He didn't realise the chaos on the bridge until the moment he looked around.  
  
Both Jones and Carter were busy trying to put some order into the chaos together with doctor Craig and a couple of fire fighters, wearing thick orange jackets instead of their traditional yellow.  
  
As Jones noticed that Scott had got up again, he immediatly came over.  
  
" Damagereport. We received a broadside on the bridge, and, we've got a  
large fire on the alpha deck sections sigma and Beta. Dammned."  
  
Scott cursed and shivered for a moment. " Doctor Craig, the captain's hurt." Craig came over to take a look at Scott.  
  
He was a bit startled and immediatly, he took out some bandages and put them on Scott's head. Scott, still a bit shocked, asked  
  
" What's the matter?" Then he tasted blood. Craig quickly remarked " Get him down to sickbay. Only there can I give him a full treatement."  
  
Two orderlys brought in a mobile stretcher rack and put it down in front of the command console. Scott was one of the first to be put on the thing and, as it had been completely loaded, the stretcher was rolled of the bridge.  
  
In sickbay, the bandages were removed from Scott's head. Craig was surprised. The blood on his face had become a red mask. The captain wasn't hurt at all.   
  
Although, as Scott sat up using his left arm as support, he nearly fainted from the pain. Craig looked up towards the ceiling of the treatment room. Yes,  
that was it, the captain could easily be helped using this machine. He went over to the monitor station and pushed a button.  
  
The machine came down immediatly.  
Craig remembered the instructions and put on a pair of protective goggles then activating the machine, he just watched. Scott felt nothing but, he was really wondering what was going on.  
  
A few moments later, Craig deactivated the machine and said to Scott " Well captain, that should save you from getting anymore broken bones." Scott didn't feel his arm anymore the moment he got up again. Without saying anything to thank the doctor, he hurried back to the bridge.  
  
Jones was surprised to see his captain get back on the bridge so early. Scott noticed it and said " Don't worry Jones, it was just a broken bone, nothing to worry about. "   
  
The grin he then got, lifted his spirits even higher.  
  
Back on Cylon, Starbuck had the time of his life. He was  
shooting up more targets then ever.  
  
And to make it even better, they weren't shooting back. With no attack ships around, Starbuck felt really well but suddenly, the thing got a black side, Caprica, as they were only attacking military targets but, on Caprica, everything and everybody was a target.  
  
Little by little, the viper began to drift toward the city.  
  
Starbuck's first shots hit Baltar's palace at the gate. Some other pilots also attacked targets in the city. And pretty soon, one big sea of flames could be spotted from a hundred miles across the main Cylon continent.  
  
Everywhere he looked, Baltar saw flames and just as suddenly as  
the battle outside had begun, he felt the presence of somebody,  
right here, right now, in his main chambers.  
  
He turned around to see Lucifer, just standing there.  
" Well, what is it now." he snarled.  
  
" It seems your special project, has been, shall we say, a has  
been."  
  
Baltar looked at Lucifer, sighed, turned around to see the  
endless see of flames continue their destruction.  
  
He didn't even feel the laserburst from the weapon that Lucifer  
had concealed.   
  
As Baltar's body hit the ground in front of the palace,  
Lucifer found himself ready to assume wich nobody in the Cylon  
empire, even Baltar, had ever achieved.  
  
He Lucifer, was now the first fully computerized Imperious  
Leader. But, there was still the question of the rebel fleet.  
  
Yes, that's it, the idea sounded so well in his computerized  
brain that he began to wonder if Baltar would have thought of  
something like this. Although, the colonial fleet was already  
making its presence felt on the rest of the defences. This was  
to be the moment for peace.  
  
Lucifer, still wielding the laser, rolled into the comm  
division of the palace.  
  
Jones was startled, he had never expected this so, he called  
Scott over to the command console. " You, must be the leader of  
this colonial fleet. Commander, we wish to make peace."  
  
" Peace!" the whole bridge became quiet after hearing Scott's cry.   
  
" You wish to make peace!"   
  
" Yes. We have had enough of long conquering wars. We will not  
be a threat to your planet anymore."  
  
" It sounded almost too good to believe but, " Is there anything that will assure that you'll never start another intergalactic war again? " that same moment, the signal post was deactivated and, Scott was handed another paper with a signal description.  
  
The message had been send by Captain Carter, the man in command of his special operations group.   
  
" All prisoners secured and on transport. We are on route towards the   
rendezvous."  
  
" Helm, steer a course of two five five, get us closer to that  
planet."  
  
At high speed, the Galactica headed towards Cylon. Moments later, the first vipers and shuttles docked.  
  
As soon as the pickup had been completed, the Galactica rapidly increased the distance between the planet and herself.  
  
The large fleet then turned and took a heading away from Cylon. To its base in this Galaxy the fleet was heading, the planet Gamoray.  
  
CHAPTER three  
  
fifteen years after the Galactica had begun her journey away from Earth, she returned to Gamoray.  
  
To the surprise of almost everyone involved, a number of space docks were available to the returning battlestars.  
  
But, that wasn't going to happen to the Galactica. Carter, still a deck officer, delivered a message to Scott. " Fleet headquarters suspects a possible retalliation strike on the planet. Therefor, the following ships are to return to Earth as soon as possible."  
  
Beneath the text Scott found a big list of ships. To his anger, headquarters called back almost every experienced captain they now had. This called for drastic measures.  
" Jonesy, organize a small conference, only the captains of these ships oh and, don't forget Cain from the Pegasus. Yes sir."  
  
All the captains needed were assembled in the councilroom, the largest room aboard the Galactica. Cain was seated right next to Scott.  
  
" Gentlemen, as of now you're the most experienced captains of this fleet. But now, I am going to have to ask you to do something special. " meanwhile, sailors were handing out copies of the order they had received.  
  
The captain of the Enterprise, A woman by the name of Goldman suddenly spoke out   
  
" You want us to change ships don't you? "   
  
Scott and everybody else, even Cain, looked at her, how could she have known this, she was right, the orders didn't specify if the captains of those ships had to be the same captains that had departed with Spencer.  
  
" May I ask what you're up to, captain Scott?" It was easy for Scott to answer.  
  
" Well, the following is the case, Our headquarters has recalled half of all ships present. They believe the Earth is going to be attacked."  
  
Cain interupted him " Yes, the very experienced captains stay here, the not yet experienced captains go back with you." Cain turned on a smile " And in case, those tinheads try to attack us, we can give them a beating they'll never forget."   
  
Cain was smiling from ear to ear. This was even better then what had happened on Gamoray before Scott had shown up. Not much later, Spencer had also okayed Scott's idea. Cain and Spencer, the two commanders, would be the only ones, together with the rest of the fleet, about fifty ships, to remain on this side of the galaxy. The rest would head back under Scott's command.   
  
It took two weeks to resupply and repair the damage caused during the battle of Cylon.  
  
But, it didn't take long to complete the journey to the great void.  
  
They ran on lightspeed all the way. A space station had already been put up just in front of the void. The fleet stopped there to refuel.  
  
The Galactica was to be the first to enter the refueling bay  
of the station. The refueling took three days to complete.  
  
And, so it took half a year to refuel the whole fleet. By then, the  
Galactica was already on course for Earth. Scott was also wondering about the face he had seen asking him for peace. He wondered what had happened on Cylon.   
  
Something, gave Scott a feeling that he was going to return there.   
  
He was so far away with his thoughts that he didn't even hear Jones calling him. but, then he responded. " Yes, mr Jones?- " Scott responded calmly as if nothing had happened. "- sir, we're lock on the navigational laserbeam, sir awaiting your order to proceed. Proceed."  
  
The Galactica went through the void again.  
  
But, there was trouble. Scott didn't have the faintest idea when and how the Cylons were going to attack the Earth.  
  
But, another source of trouble, far more deadlyer then the Cylons was about to stir its head.  
  
" They are in range lord, do you want me to decloak and open fire ? No!" a firm voice said. The voice belonged to commander Xaviar, now with a combination of grey and silver hair, he looked quite a bit like Starbuck. Xaviar was watching the mainview monitor of his personal battlecruiser.  
  
Not knowing why, he wondered. He, Xaviar, was captured by Troy and Dillon in the 18th century. Then taken back to face a trial. The result was, he  
was to be outcast to a strange planet.   
  
Indeed he was. But,the shuttle had left him in the middle of a desert. He was able to locate a well but, the tribe that possessed it captured him  
and then tortured him.  
  
He was lucky. The very next morning another opposing tribe attacked and massacred his captors. He was able to apply his technical knowledge to machinery and weaponry of the tribe that had liberated him. And very soon, the tribe was known to be invincible. Also, he began to rise through the social ranks of the tribe. And pretty soon, he was known as The Tayollah of Iras, the planet to wich he had been outcast.  
  
The next thing also came to be through his technical knowledge : space travel. Thanks to his technical knowledge, it  
progressed so rapidly that they were soon venturing pretty far  
out into space.  
  
During the so called Year of the Wind, the  
conquered three worlds in one Rak. ( a year in earth time)  
  
But now, there was a group of battlestars racing through space here. This required further information.   
  
" Have the squadron decloak and arm on my mark but first, I want my ship to  
  
be in such a position that she can fire on that vessel." he pointed to the Galactica."  
  
" What the hell, lieutenant Jones, ships appearing, they've already armed and locked on!" Jones didn't think, he immediatly ordered the fleet to come to a full stop.  
  
" A message from the America, sir, they report a reasonably large ship hovering near and above our stern. Put it on the screen." Scott ordered as he climbed the stairs leading up to the pedestal.  
  
" What have we got here? " Scott was closely examining all the ships that had surrounded them.  
  
" Gentlemen I conclude that we have just one option. We follow them to wherever it is we're supposed to go." The large squa dron changed its heading.  
  
Three weeks later they reached their destination, the planet  
Iras.   
  
Captain James Scott was in his quarters as the second in command, lieutenant Jones called " Captain, we've just received a message from that large vessel, we're ordered to surrender and shuttle down to the planet. Didn't tell us why."  
  
Scott sighed a moment and thought, it was obvious they wanted them to shuttle down to the planet, they required the ships. However, they only knew he was the leader, so he needed to be there and the others didn't. Easyer said then done,  
however, The idea was quit simple. The leader of those ships would only know him, not the rest of his officers. He immediatly went at it.  
  
Not much later, Carter and a couple of his marines came in. They were all wearing staff officer uniforms. " how do we look sir? Well, captain Carter first of all, call me captain when we're on the surface, sir, is also allright." with those instructions the team left for the flight deck.  
  
Aboard the battlecruiser, Xaviar watched on his mainviewer how the shuttle left the pod and began its decend for his planet. " Ready my shuttle, I want to be on the planet when they get there."   
  
immediatly he left for the shuttlebay of his own ship.  
  
" There's a shuttle leaving from that large cruiser on our stern! Course?" Jones called out " She seems to be heading for an area that looks like their capital city. I'm already commencing with a sector scan. " Jones knew it, now it was out of his hands.  
  
" Keep me informed, and keep a tight watch on everything. By everything I guess you mean those ships, the captain and his group and what's either happening or going to happen in the city? You got it, lieutenant." With that Jones returned to the bridge.  
  
Xaviar had the central landing area on his own central monitor panel. The shuttle touched down with remarkable ease.  
  
He recognized the first man to come out of the shuttle, it was that guy that called himself the captain, apparently the shock effect had worked.  
  
" Bring Tra, I have a job for him, are you sure that he's been fitted with that device you told me about?  
  
"Yes Lord, it has been hidden on him just like you said. "  
  
Xaviar face turned into an icecold grin.   
  
Not much later he heard a scuffling of feet. Apparently, his guards were bringing in Tra. Xaviar looked upon the man with a higher sneer. The only resistance leader to be named Tollah, but there were things of bigger importance.  
  
" Tra, I have a job for you." Xaviar remarked still watching the monitor screen.  
  
Meanwhile, the streets leading to the tayollah's palace, were filled with crowds. " Christ, is this the fucking middle east we've landed in." One of Carter's men remarked. Before he knew it, both Carter and Scott veered back as the crowd came at them like a massive wave.  
  
" quickly!" a manly voice said to Scott's back said "follow me." the voice added " quickly put these on, these'll help us get out of town." The shadow handed them a couple of robelike pieces of clothing, and told them to put them on.  
  
Not much later they were beyond the city walls, heading for open country.  
  
In the distance they saw a mountain range.  
  
Suddenly, Scott heard a high wine behind him. "hovercopters, quickly, we must take cover." they hid behind a formation of rocks they found along the roadside. Scott noticed the copters passing overhead.   
  
" we're safe for now I guess but, where do we go from here?" He looked at the voice or whatever it was in that robe, leaning on the rock and sighing.  
  
Suddenly the robe opened up and a face appeared. " I'm Tra, Xaviar has ordered your death." before he was finished, two of Carter's marines were on top of him. And the others pointed their lasers at him.  
  
" Let me finish please" suddenly Scott recognized the voicetone of the man, " I am a resistance leader, this planet is under the rule of a madman, Xaviar."   
  
Scott knew with what the man was talking about, under the leadership of another man probably mad or just powerhungry some other beings had on a couple of occasions, succeeded in nearly destroying the Earth.  
  
" Anyway, Xaviar rose through the tribes and pretty soon he had subjugated all the others, except one, the Petrax, my tribe, next to thinkers we also were and are still, warriors. We resisted his oppression, and then you came, the ones who Xaviar called the Tanshis, the devil."  
  
He stopped there for a moment to let his words get the most effect. Then Scott, who just like the marines knew what Tra was talking about remarked   
  
" We'll need to get into contact with our ships, in case we can have any effect on what you're doing here." then Tra led them deeper into the country towards the mountains.   
  
Scott noticed the beauty and view they had from the heights. As he  
looked at the mountain range its self, he realised that there was only one and costly way to get in there, infantry would have to scale the rocks or go over  
  
the trails, under fire.   
  
Not much later, Scott's theory proved its self as two hovercopters passed them, overhead.  
  
A couple of hours later, Xaviar's scouts reported to him that they had lost the party of men they were chasing. By then, Scott and his party had safely reached the basecamp of the resistance where they were met with cheers and amazing views of silence.  
  
All the resistance fighters had never met anybody from  
outer space before.   
  
Tra disappeared for a moment but soon Scott and the others were brought to a cave where he was waiting. Tra led them deeper into the cave.  
  
Finally, they got to something that appeared to be a vault.  
  
" We have the means to put you in contact with your ship but, I have a favor to ask of you. Will you..... " the rest of his sentence drowned in the explosion that suddenly occured.  
  
" Carter, you and your men stay here, I'm going with Tra to check what's going on. " Carter quickly dispersed his men through the cave as Scott headed out together with Tra.  
  
Outside, total chaos reigned. Explosions were going off everywhere and overhead, there were hovercopters, shooting at anything that moved. But thanks to the dust, they couldn't see Tra and Scott, lurking behind an overthrown table and a stone  
wall respectively.   
  
Suddenly, a woman screamed something that Scott didn't understand. " He's bringing the infantry, we'd do better to try to get to the communicator right now." They quickly ran toward another cave, which was about six hundred yards away from them.  
  
To Scott, the six hundred yards seemed to be six hundred light years.  
  
They lasted so long and there were many explosions all around them, but they safely reached the cave. They entered it immediatly. Tra told him that the vault was on the far end of the cave, which they reached not much later. There was, just like in the other cave, a vault like looking door.  
  
They quickly opened it.  
  
The device was a big dish, just like some of the old radio telescopes he had seen, it pointed upward to an opening, probably an old volcano. " Adjust the frequency and speak, they'll hear you almost immediatly, There was an explosion at the cavemouth. "I'll stand guard. Don't let them see you, your planet depends on it." he didn't even get a reply and as he looked up, Tra was gone. Then he began to talk in to the receiver Tra had given him.  
  
The Galactica was still in the orbit over the capital city, as Scott's signal came in. Jones, who was still on the bridge grabbed a headset to hear what the captain had to say   
  
" Listen up Jones, go to red alert immediatly, destroy those ships and lauch  
the vipers for the planet. I need air support and some extra marines, we're in deep shit. Scott out." Jones knew he now had work to do.  
  
" Ensign, red alert all levels, standby to launch fighters towards the planet. All laserbatterys cleared to fire, engineering get us up to combat speed." the sailor who was repeating the order was still busy with the word fighter as the Galactica was already moving, launching vipers and a shuttle in the proces.  
  
The battlecruiser, Xaviar's personal ship, was already following the battlestar, but not yet shooting.  
  
Right after the vipers had been launched, the Galactica took evasive action, leaving the bulky battlecruiser far behind her.  
  
" Helm, bring us around towards the battlecruiser." Jones ordered as the Galactica was clear. On one of the other monitors he could see how the other  
ships were already engaged with the rest of the enemy fleet.   
  
On the planet, both Scott and Tra were now firing at the infantry that was charging them, especially Scott's laser was causing frightful damage amongst their ranks. As he looked towards the cave he had come from, he noticed that the marines were still firing. Suddenly, the sound of thunder filled the  
air, and as he looked up, Scott saw the familiar shape of a  
viper rush by.   
  
Moments later, a full salvo ripped up the first formation of infantry.  
  
As he noticed the hovercopters, Scott saw a second squadron show up, right behind them. Moments later, he again heard a familiar sound. As the shuttle touched down, the marines came out from the cave, pushing one big box and carrying two smaller ones.  
  
They brought them aboard the shuttle which immediatly took off.  
  
" Captain, we have something on radar and I think it spells trouble." They were in the air less then five minutes and there was trouble already, impossible but, as he went up to the pilots level, he could see for himself that there was trouble, large trouble.   
  
"shit, that'd better not be what I think it is." But, he knew they were now dealing with the battle cruiser.  
  
The shuttle that Scott had left behind on his landing platform, had served him well in his escape and now, he was safely aboard his own ship with men that would follow him to his dying day.  
  
And right there in that shuttle, was his opponnent, Tra and that idiotic Scott. Time to do something about them.  
  
" Helm, follow that shuttle. Weapons, standby to engage." The shuttlepilot however, had a different meaning about what was to be done against them. He  
immediatly brought the shuttle around and headed the other way.  
  
It gave them time, meanwhile both Scott and the co-pilot were trying to contact the Galactica.  
  
Aboard the Galactica, Jones was sitting in one of the command chairs on the pedestal. Half of his worries had already been removed but, the captain and the others, that was another thing.  
  
" Captain's shuttle calling Galactica, captains shuttle calling galactica, we're on heading 341 , we've got that battle cruiser on our tails."  
  
Right then, before Jones was able to respond, the signal vanished into static.   
  
" Tracking station find them!!, Helm, get us on a course towards the planet. " The Galactica turned away from the reassembling fleet and headed for Iras.   
  
As Tra looked at their stern again, the battle cruiser was gone.  
  
" Shit, shit, shit, I shouldda known, the idiot overtook us and waited for us to run in to him." Tra ran forward to see what was going on.  
  
The moment, he got to the cockpit, he noticed the bow of the battle cruiser. But, Scott was already looking beyond the battle cruiser for, something was quietly floating down to the hovering level of the battle cruiser.  
  
Suddenly, the co-pilot screamed " Nice going, little brother. "  
  
" His kid brother's a helmsman, sir." the shuttle captain explained. Scott then turned to Tra, while from the corner of his eye watching the battlecruiser turn around he said " Well Tra, the next stop for you is democracy." the shuttle immediatly docked as the Galactica began the pursuit of the battle  
cruiser.  
  
Scott and the marines all helped in getting Tra's family to sickbay. The marines were then ordered back to their quarters.  
  
" I'll order quarters to be made for you and your family, but it will be quit some time before you go back." Scott put a hand on Tra's shoulder, and left for the bridge. He was just in time to see the battle cruiser blow up.  
  
" Helm, course Earth, and ready for a hyper space jump." Scott said, they had a planet to save.  
  
But, they were still three weeks out.  
  
CHAPTER FOUR  
  
The earth's solar system consists of ten planets of which more then half have moons in orbit around them. On all planets, except Mercury and Venus, military bases had been build and unfortunately, those bases had attracted civilian settlers, which made for some interesting mixups, for instance on Pluto.  
  
Rear-admiral Kyle Dobson was looking at an angry mob of settlers who only wanted one thing, to get off the planet as soon as possible. He couldn't blame them, Pluto only had two squadrons of vipers and two battalions of troops available, the rest had been deployed elsewhere.   
  
Dobson went through the schematic about threethousand military personnel, fifteenhundred civilians and their belongings would have to be crammed  
into that battlestar, his battlestar.  
  
He noticed the small star right above the middle point of the city, then, without knowing why, he wondered how long it would take the Cylons to kill all of them.  
  
On Jupiter however, things were different. Since Jupiter formed the base of the training squadron, the earth's military presence was staggering. Every new battlestar that the space dock had managed to complete had been given a crew be  
  
it in most cases a skeleton crew, and was ordered to head for one of the planet's moons. The same thing was done near Saturn and Uranus, however on a much more limited scale.  
  
But the preparations the Earth took to guard against invasion were  
enormous. Pilots that had selected the reserve instead of active duty were called up in groups of six wings per day. Old nuclear weapons were taken out from storage and placed right next to the newer missile emplacements.  
  
Every city, town, village or whatever there was, was protected by four laserbatterys, with numerous single mountings still being installed.  
  
Especially in the cities. All of the coordination of the defence  
was taking place inside one mountain. Cheyenne mountain formed  
the headquarters of the entire force the Earth had out in  
space.  
  
However, knowing that this one place could and would probably be knocked out, backup centers had been build in top secret locations. In fact the only ones knowing of these places, were Supreme Commander Earth Force, SCEF in short, and all the people who were working in them. And, up in space there were the two squadrons. One of them, the training squadron, was under the command of admiral James Spencer, the brother of the admiral that had joined up with Scott over Gamoray.  
  
James Spencer wasn't like his brother, although he had wished for an active  
command, the opportunity to command such an awsome squadron as this, would be a memory to keep, but he also wondered if he was going to be around long enough to cherish those memories.  
  
Since Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus were all, in a way, guardians of the approaches, there were only two spots to place the squadrons. Half of his squadron was already in position in an arrow formation between Mars, the asteroid belt and Earth and, with the professional squadron facing the other direction, he suddenly realised that it was going to be close, just like the  
last time.  
  
In his mind, a film replayed what had happened the first time the Cylons, or whatever they were called attacked, James Spencer had been one of the first captains to be engaged in battle.   
  
He remembered what happened, three of those fighters had broadsided his ship and killed everybody on the bridge, except him.  
  
He remembered one of the nearby escape pods and managed to reach it just as the ship started to desintegrate, he was almost killed by the blast.  
  
He was picked up three days later by one of the search vessels that had been dispatched. He later learned that there were only three other survivors from his ship and, that they were all fighter pilots but, not much time passed before he got a new ship.   
  
But now, he was worried, not if he was going to get another ship but if he was going to be alive to see another ship. He also remembered the three pilots as he had met them, just before the red alert had sounded. They weren't really  
bitter to him but, they also weren't too excited to see him.  
  
Again he checked with his tracking station.  
  
There was still nothing but, in his mind, he was already going through  
the orders for the sixty-second time, because he knew they were  
out there.  
  
A PLC, had been set up near the longrange radar station on Pluto. It had been the last thing the service personnel had done before they had boarded the shuttle for the battlestar that was going to take them off the planet.  
  
Aboard the Victory, a battlestar under the command of a British captain, Rearadmiral Kyle Dobson wondered how long it would take the reactor to overload and to wipe out the whole base. He somehow hoped it would as soon as the robots had touched down.   
  
The captain signalled for them to get under way as soon as the shuttle had boarded the docking bay.  
  
Not much later, and in the very distance, Everybody could see from a distance how a white, very bright spot of light appeared in the distance as the reactor exploded.  
  
And as the reactor spread it's contents across the zone that had once been the base, the radar picked something up.  
  
Meanwhile, back on Earth. The lights went on inside Cheyenne Mountain and, people of every creed and color, all wearing space com uniforms entered a large hall where they began to activate all the screens and instrument panels.  
  
Not much later, a voice brought them to attention. A woman wearing four stars on her two shoulders entered the hall.  
  
Everybody now knew who she was. Admiral Janis Da silva, was the highest commanding officer, her job was twofold, next to being responsible for star exploration, her organization was also the only organization that had the means to defend the Earth, however it would have to be a long battle and since Da silva had no idea when Spencer and or Scott would be returning, and most  
of the crews aboard the ships were still inexperienced, she knew it would be a battle against the odds.  
  
" Admiral, a message from rear-admiral Dobson, he's evacuated Pluto completely and heading this way, the message also includes that he's blown up all the facillities on the planet."  
  
Da silva looked at the message for a moment, and then asked "  
  
" What ship is taking them back? The Victory, sir. Good, have the Victory drop them off on the Earth station, then order her to join the forces of the Asteroid belt. Aye sir." The aide rushed off to one of the communication panels.   
  
The ensign quickly began to relay the message to the Victory.  
  
Dobson read the message appearing on the screen, as the red combat illumination came on. He rushed up to the command console to see what was going on. Captain Nigel Bennet looked up as he saw Dobson arriving.  
  
" you were right, they're here. Twenty vics of ten ships each, heading in our direction. I'm taking her up to lightspeed, they'll never be able to catch us  
then besides, this will be a nice way to trap them."   
  
Dobson nodded, the vipers were only useful in case there was a direct  
attack and in this case, there wasn't. The Victory sped off.  
  
Inside Cheyenne mountain, Dasilva noticed another ensign coming over to her with a sheet of paper. " From the observatory, sir, they're reporting a battlestar light speeding towards the planet. " Dasilva put the note down beside her, there would be a good reason why the captain of the Victory had gone lightspeed.  
  
Suddenly a voice eochoed through the large hall. " This rear-admiral Dobson for CIC Cheyenne mountain. Admiral Dasilva, do you copy, this is Dobson aboard the Victory, we're lightspeeding away from at least twohundred Cylon fighters, put all forces on alert." then the speaker crackled. They've come, was the only thing Dasilva thought as she asked for a line to the space tracking station.   
  
" Space tracking station, this is admiral Dasilva from Cheyenne, is there anything coming from Pluto? Yes sir, there is, the Victory is racing like hell to escape an encircling movement by Cylon fighters."  
  
" Understood, Da silva out. All forces, go to yellow alert, ready all fightersquadrons for launch, get the crews to their bays. Option Delta six is now clear."   
  
All over the Earth and the star system, men and women alike ran to their positions. On the ships out in space, the red combat illumination was activated. Option Delta six meant that a Cylon attack was imminent.  
  
And it was. The Cylon forces outside the star system, were under the command of a centurion known only as Sloth.  
  
And Sloth was, next to Baltar and Spectre, the most experienced military commander the Cylons had and, he had one of the biggest, if not the biggest concentration of Cylon forces ever under his own command.  
  
But now, he was also taking on one of the biggest challenges in his long military career. Invade and conquer Earth for the glory of the Cylon empire. But, the Earth now had colonial equipment, and lots of it, it wasn't  
going to be the milk run the old colonies had been.  
  
Then he gave the order to proceed.  
  
Sloth's command consisted of sixty base ships, with each carrying at least up to twohundred attack ships. And now each of those attack ships began to launch it's full content.  
  
But behind the conventional base ships, there was a group of four large  
ships, copied battlestars. They didn't launch their attack ships. They just continued in the direction of the bright, green and blue planet.  
  
And not much later, the forward formation of at least a thousand ships peeled off to attack the Victory. Dobson and Bennet, a man like a rock, was looking at the radarscreen and said " Standby to launch fighters but first, let them come  
into battery range we'll give them a surprise."  
  
" Captain Cramer?"  
  
A voice with a South African accent answered over the radio " Sir, Captain, You've got one hell of an assignement to complete, I need you to get our pursuers of our back." then he closed the communicator and turned his attention towards Dobson.  
  
" Admiral, If you've got civilian personnel that can help my crew, tell your  
sector commanders to have them report to our fire station and the health center. I've got a feeling we're gonna need them."  
  
Then he ordered the Vipers to be launched.  
  
Cramer's vipers immediatly took up a wedge formation and headed for the mass of approaching Cylon attack ships.   
  
" There they are, incase anybody survives this, rendez-vous behind the  
Earth moon."  
  
Then almost all of the pilots from the Victory pilots could see how Cramer's first and long salvo wiped out three Cylon fighters in one try.  
  
Cramer noticed that the others were firing as well and, that they were still closing rapidly. And, it didn't take them to long to shorten the distance between the two groups.  
  
As soon as the two groups had separated, Cramer ordered a hard turn to the right, wich made the whole viper group turn the Cylon rear.  
  
Cramer, looked at his scanner. Although they had cut through the very large Cylon formation, the Cylons were still bringing in reinforcements. " Cramer to Victory, Cylons bringing in reinforcements, suggest you take evasive action or  
call reinforcements."  
  
As Cramer looked in the direction the Victory was travelling, he suddenly noticed a front of explosions, that was moving right into wave after wave after wave of Cylon attack ships.  
  
Cramer reacted immediatly " Vipergroup, turbo's full forward thrust now !!!"  
  
The vipers quickly mixed it up with the attack ships. and pretty soon, the space radar on the Frontier space station reported that the Cylon reinforcements were being diverted from their Earth course towards the Victory battle  
sight.  
  
" Dammned." Everybody looked up as they heard Janis Da silva swear. " Okay, no time to panick about this, scramble..." She never got time to finish.  
  
" Admiral, the first Cylon base ships are now in range of the Neptune defences. Admiral Rickert reports that the base ships have opened fire on his military facilities. Light casualties."  
  
" Good, now scramble six vipersquadrons and have them fall upon their flank. Send a signal to the battlestars near Neptune, Mars and The Belt, saying the following, be prepared good  
luck." That'd show everybody that she'd take care off them.  
  
" Six squadrons have launched sir, they're on course for the  
battlescene." a voice reported not much later.  
  
Dobson and Bennet, were still fighting to save the ship.  
But, to some crewmembers, it became apparent to Bennet, it  
appeared to be a lost cause.  
  
" Cramer to Victory, I've just spotted reinforcements coming on to their flank." Both Bennet and Dobson looked at each other, it appeared as though they  
  
had made it.  
  
The staff officers on Neptune had a better view of the whole  
battle and pretty soon, it became apparent that the Cylons were  
bringing in more reinforcements but, they didn't send any attacks ships towards Neptune.   
  
Rickert reacted immediatly.   
  
" Send a message for Earth, enemy still pouring attackships toward Victory scene. No, repeat, no attackships towards Neptune. Am dispatching half of all vipers towards battle scene." Pretty soon, a large group of fresh vipers was heading for the scene of the fierce battle around the battlestar Victory.   
  
Rickert then ordered all available battlestars to engage the enemy over  
the planet.  
  
  
CHAPTER five SCOTT'S FLEET  
  
Starbuck, had finally agreed to become the Galactica's air group commander. Scott, somehow felt he was about to lose a friend. But, Tra knew what Scott felt.   
  
But then again, Tra had become the Galactica's first officer, his eldest daughter, a sleek, yet beautiful blondhaired girl with blue eyes, had  
chosen to become a viper pilot. Starbuck seemed quite happy to teach her all the tricks of the trade, it didn't take long for her to become a squadron commander.   
  
Jones had transferred as a captain to the Enterprise after Spencer had chosen to stay behind and help Cain and after her captain had been killed during the battle of Iras.  
  
As the fleet reached a position sixty million kilometres outside the Earth's orbit, Scott ordered the fleet to halt.  
  
Every ship was now able to monitor the comm calls coming from ships and bases around their home worlds.  
  
" Red section, you have three bandits coming down now. Evasive action, now." they heard a calm voice say.  
  
" HMS Brittannia is attacking."  
  
" Cramer to all, this is something you'll be telling your kids  
about when you're a hundred."  
  
" Homeplate group, you're clear to proceeed to battlezone." As he heard the transmissions over the speaker, Tra asked " Have you got a deployment plan?"   
  
Scott nodded, " I sure as hell do, two single files, one for us one for the vipers, I want those cans to know that they can't attack our homes without  
suffering the consequences."  
  
The fleet began to move again but this time, all battle stars had gotten into a line ahead formation. And as soon as the fleet had reached Pluto, Scott ordered the vipers to be launched and do the same.   
  
  
  
But, the vipers flew over the raging Victory battle and came down right above the Earth where from they continued until they met a new formation of attack ships, in the vicinity of Uranus, heading straight for Earth.  
  
A new battle ensued.  
  
Sloth realised it the moment he got reports of the second battle commencing.   
  
There were opportunities here that couldn't be left behind. " All ships, move forward towards viper gap." With that, the base ships were committed to the battle. There wasn't a thing that was going to stop them.   
  
Although, if there were forces near or in the asteroid belt near that large red planet, things were going to go different, this needed to be avoided.  
  
So, not much later, attack ships were launched from the four battlestars. Sloth also ordered the forces already engaged to draw the enemy away from the gap. Their crossing, would be safe now.  
  
Back on Earth, Janis Da silva had stepped out of the command center and went to the top of the hill. She thought she was alone but, the heavy and high wine of the laserbattery being set up disturbed her thoughts. In the distance, she saw trucks and all sorts of armoured vehicles moving around.  
  
Probably going to places where she'd never get to go to, the way things  
were going now.  
  
" Admiral, you're needed in the command post, there's a gap." She sighed, got up from her tailor's seat and followed the young lieutenant down.   
  
There still was a lot of com traffic taking place. That guy Cramer's voice, was still coming over the airways.  
  
" I wonder how many he's shot down." she heard an enlisted man near the star  
system map say.  
  
In space, Mark Cramer, was getting worried. He had noticed how the Cylons were trying to pull them away from what used to be the center of their line, calmly creating a gap.   
  
And on their side they were being drawn towards the Victory. She was  
still manouvring but, to Cramer it was all to obvious clear  
that his home vessel had been hit.  
  
Cramer's assumption was right. The Victory had indeed been hit. Dobson had been sent to the Alpha level by Bennet to check out what had been going on. Near the recreation hall, he encountered a lot of military and civilian fire fighters. There were both civilian and military medical staff as well.  
  
One of the fire fighters came to him. " I'm lieutenant Breckt, sir,  
we're barely containing this one as it is."  
  
Dobson looked in the direction of the fire. It was raging as if it was the portall of hell. He also wondered, according to the Combat Information Center, they were right in the middle of a big battle.  
  
Dasilva, noticed the gap forming the moment she came in. " Scramble all remaining viper squadrons, and order all defence forces to standby, warn admiral Spencer." she remained quiet for a moment but then asked   
  
" What's our status? We've lost ten percent of our viper strength, together with two battlestars, I calculate our losses to be at least twenty percent already."  
  
Dasilva turned around. " as soon as their capital ships are through, send the battlestars in to meet them." that was it, the battle was now entering the next phase.   
  
In fase one, the vipers had been able to stop all attacks on the defences and  
the planets and now, the Cylon commander, would be trying to rap it up by sending in the big ships.  
  
" Admiral Spencer reports that he's in position. also he's letting us know that there are four battlestars behind the Cylon fleet and he doens't know if they're ours."  
  
" have him hold his position."   
  
" Aye sir."   
  
Another sailor came in with a sheet of paper. Commander Taylor took it from him. " Another message from the space observatory, they report something about a battle proceeding near Uranus."  
  
Dasilva looked at him, from her face, Taylor could tell she wanted more information.  
  
" I don't know if they're ours sir, the main commander of Uranus reported that all his vipers got through without any trouble. And, that was two hours ago."  
  
Dasilva thus ordered " Bring it up on the starmap."   
  
The selector grid on the starmap was brought up to the sector of Uranus. She looked at the screen, " Whoever they are, they saved our skins."  
  
In space, Spencer, was also watching the systemchart as the Uranus sector was enlarged. He turned around and spoke with captain Dave Harmon, whose hair, height and weight were just the same as his.   
  
" Dave, pass it on, all ships are to stay in position until I give the order." Harmon ordered the message to be passed on.  
  
Then, he returned his attention towards the ever increasing number of radar and combat reports. Suddenly, Spencer felt a tap on his shoulder. " Admiral, take a look at this scanner picture."  
  
Spencer looked up " Here it is, sir, the situation is as followed"  
  
- the lieutenant pointed at a group of dots.  
  
" - This is us, sir, and as you can see, these are the two battles taking place on our right and left flank now, this is a third wave of attackships. Conclusion, I don't think we'll have to worry about our flanks Unless, they manage to break through and for that third group, I hope someone has a trick up his sleeve, we're all in a heep of trouble."  
  
Spencer said only one thing " I hope James Scott gets here in time." He clinched his fist for a moment. To Harmon it seemed apparent, Spencer, the admiral, had caught himself losing hope.  
  
And, he knew very well that it was wrong.   
  
A bit further away, on the right of Spencer's formation, Starbuck, Tra's daughter, (Starbuck had tryed to ask her what the name Maarn meant but he didn't get an answer.) and a lot of other pilots were fighting and, they were succeeding quite well. On the left however, things were different.  
  
Cramer, was in trouble. He was using all of the squadrons that had been assigned to him but, they were all committed now and they were badly in need of reinforcements.   
  
He decided to fight his way out. Not much later, he was. He immediatly  
switched to the command frequency " Cramer for Cheyenne mountain. We're badly in need of reinforcements. The Victory has gotten away, no word on her location. If reinforcements are not available, I will order all remaining vipers to rendezvous behind the Earth moon."   
  
He then switched over to the Omnicon. Now, all vipers could hear him.   
  
" Cramer to all, Cramer to all, rendezvous behind the Earth moon. I repeat, Rendezvous behind the earth moon."   
  
then he deactivated the comm and immediatly, entered a course for the Earth's moon into his navicomputer. Not much later the vipers, after taking evasive action, began to follow.  
  
They left the confused Cylons far behind.  
  
Sloth, now on the bridge of the first battlestar could feel how the joyous energys flew through him as he recieved the message that enemy vipers on their flank had withdrawn.  
  
It was time to take action. " Order all ships forward in attack formation."   
  
The first Earthlings to pick up the new move were the crew of the Victory. As Dobson was analyzing the situation, he suddenly realized what he was looking at.   
  
" Get me through to Cheyenne, they've got to know this!! " Not much later, Dobson's voice echoed through the command chamber " This is admiral Dobson calling Cheyenne, they're coming, their attackships have broken our viper defences and are now chasing them to the moon, their large ships are not far behind." The message disappeared into static.  
  
" The Cylons must be jamming, I'll try to see if we can break it." a voice reported.   
  
This time, Da silva only gave one orders " Order all reserve squadrons to standby and warn admiral Spencer." Then, the lights blinked for a moment and this time, a marine wearing full gear and camouflage came in. Taylor talked to him for a moment and then came back to Da silva who asked " Well? It's a  
message from colonel Longstreet, sir, enemy descending through the atmosphere, no means yet available to stop them. Warn the Civil defence authorities, bring the ground forces to full alert and launch the reserve squadrons. You, tell your colonel that I want him to hold his ground."   
  
the lights blinked again.  
  
Da silva's messages got to the civil defence in time for them to take adequate measures to counter the disaster. From everywhere, volunteers came to help set up tents for the eventual homeless. Also, the fire departements could count on a lot of volunteer backing.  
  
But sometimes, it wasn't enough. The woods and, the greater part of Los Angeles were already on fire. It was getting that worse that one of the reserve squadrons was called in to handle the creation of a fire break by blowing up  
buildings in a wide path in front of the fire.  
  
But, there were sucesses as well. Those parts of the groundforces that had been assigned to air defence were getting the hang over the Cylon fighters and brought them down.  
  
Mostly, it was one at a time but, there were occasions when the lasers made fighters to fly in to each other. And, the reserve squadrons, were on their way to the moon.   
  
On top of the hill, colonel Longstreets headquarters.  
  
" Sir, Private Hackman has returned."   
  
Lieutenant Dan Wells took Hackman to Longstreet's command chamber. Longstreet didn't look up.  
  
" Well, what did she say? We're to hold our ground sir." Longstreet still didn't look up. " Thank you private, return to your post. Yes sir." As Wells was gone, he suddenly slammed his fist on the table.   
  
" Dammned, Wells, we need time, time." He slammed his fist on the table again. That moment, Wells noticed it against the light of the combat illumination. " Lieutenant, send this message to all forces, enemy invasion imminent." By then, the first tear Wells had seen, had already traded places with the second.   
  
" Aye sir."  
  
In space, aboard the Galactica,   
  
" Starbuck and your daughter are holding their own Tra. Yeah, but take a look on our right flank."   
  
Scott didn't glance at the monitor on the right, he nearly crept inside.  
  
" These are the vipers, they're heading for the moon of the third planet from the sun. Those attackships as you call them, are chasing them but they're going to run into a trap because, take a look here- he pointed at another group of dots originating from Earth- here, come the reinforcements." Scott nodded. He knew the situation as well as Tra did.  
  
" Now here's my plan. Their capital ships or better yet, let's call them the  
gold transport, should be nearing your ships from the right. This means that the admiral who's commanding them, should make the left part of his formation do a turn to starboard. Am I correct?"  
  
" Please continue." Scott commented  
  
" Now, if their capital ships engage your ships on our starboard, I think the Cylons, of whom you have been telling me a lot, will go to the right or  
  
possibly, even attempt to encircle them. We're in a position to stop them on this side but we need to stop them on the other side as well, you know  
that as well as I do."   
  
Tra paused for a moment.  
  
Scott then had a question for Tra " What do you think an L-shaped formation, the hook protecting the rear of our battlestars? Correct."  
  
" Guess we need to stay out of their scanner range, That's for sure." Then he started to arrange the plan. One at a time, the ships of his fleet went to lightspeed. But not so very far away of Scott's position.  
  
" Are they ours, Dobson? I don't know, I really don't know but, it would be better, if we called it in. Agreed." and not much later, Dobson had a channel for Cheyenne mountain.  
  
Meanwhile, the Victory remained on the edge of what they thought  
was the maximum Cylon scanning range.   
  
However, " We're in position, sir, scanner station reports a battlestar on our stern, she's scanning us. Get me through on a clear line." Scott ordered.  
  
Aboard the Victory, Neither Dobson nor Bennet couldn't believe what had just  
happened. And they really couldn't believe their ears either as they heard that the incoming message came from the Galactica, a ship that should have been lightyears away from this system.  
  
" On screen." Bennet ordered finally as they got over their astonishment. The screen on the console blinked for a moment before Scott's face appeared. " This is Captain James Scott calling the USS Victory, please respond."  
  
" This is rear admiral Kyle Dobson aboard the Victory, go ahead sir. Admiral Dobson, I want you to take a section of my battlestars on the other side of fleetadmiral Spencer's line. You'll form a line, out of scanner range on a ninety degree angle with our line. Understood sir. Those ships are already detaching now."   
  
The source, aboard the Galactica was deactivated so the screen automatically turned to the status reports again.  
  
Dobson went for Bennet " Captain, it seems we've received our orders." Dobson explained their orders to Bennet very quickly and not much later, the Victory was in position with the other vessels.  
  
Spencer's ship, had a fitting name, the UES United States. She was to be an example of how the worlds of Iras, Earth and the thirteen colonys should be working together on all sorts of things. As Spencer thought about it, it seemed fitting. He also wondered what his part would be.  
  
His thoughts were interupted by captain Barton. " Admiral, we've just recieved a message from captain Scott, he's in a defensive position on our rear, he will engage the enemy in a flanking move the moment we have engaged them."  
  
Spencer felt himself beginning to smile.  
  
" Send this to captain Scott?, glad that you're around. Will begin immediatly." Barton rushed off. The Galactica received the message not  
much later.   
  
  
  
Meanwhile, Sloth and his ships had been steadily progressing  
towards the battlestar line.  
  
Sloth, being of the same make as Lucifer, began to get curious. The humans their larger vessels had been avoiding the battle he so desperatly if he was to  
destroy the Earth and make it a Cylon outpost.  
  
" Are there anymore scanner reports centurion? " The centurion replied that there were not and, that the Earthlings had dropped out of range.  
  
Sloth wondered, did the earthlings pull back in disarray as expected or was there another reason? "  
  
" Centurion, order all battlestars forward with full scan activated." the centurion disappeared.  
  
" Admiral Spencer, we're receiving a message from the space observatory. On screen. Admiral Spencer, the enemy's on the move, he's coming on a heading of two six seven." Spencer had the situation changed on the plot screen and ordered the message handed over to Scott.   
" Captain, there's a message for you from admiral Spencer, he reports that the Cylons are on the move. It's true sir, I'm reading several Cylon radar emissions in the onehundred percent area already."   
  
Scott thought for a moment. If they were going to discover his ships, the trouble was going to be larger then he was expecting. And, all of a sudden, it seemed as if the others weren't there anymore. He was looking at them but, he  
couldn't hear them.   
  
This, kept going on, until suddenly somebody shook him ver violently. It was Tra.   
  
" What happened? " was the first thing he asked. " I don't know, I probably had what we call a blackout." Scott replied.  
  
Then the idea hit him.  
  
" Lieutenant, make an overlay of the Cylon radar range on the plot screen, I want to try something. Aye sir."  
  
The lieutenant immediatly went at it. Scott was watching the plot screen as the data came up. " Hmmm, with these scanner ranges, they're bound to find us but only after they've engaged admiral Spencer. " Scott then ordered that all ships were to stay in formation.  
  
Meanwhile, Starbuck and his squadrons had been able to destroy the whole of the second raiding force. And as he contacted the Galactica, he got orders to fly over to the moon and join the squadrons that were about to engage the  
second Cylon force. He was also in charge. Starbuck ordered his  
squadrons to follow him.  
  
Cramer's group, was already in position as the reserve squadrons showed up. One of his own pilots, a certain lieutenant by the name of Jerry Doyle suddenly reported fighters on their left flank.  
  
Cramer flew over to check it out. He switched to unicom as he noticed the other fighters were Vipers as well.  
  
" This is commander Dirk Cramer of the UES Victory, identify yourself." The reply came sooner then he expected.   
  
" This is wing commander Starbuck from USS Galactica, by order of  
admiral James Scott, I'm now taking over." Cramer confirmed and  
escorted Starbuck and the others to the rendezvous point.   
  
Sloth and his large ships had been scanning for the Earth fleet for the past several hours but, they didn't find anything.  
  
And, while he was wondering what had happened to the Earthlings, a centurion unit entered his chambers. " By your command."   
  
Sloth turned around. " Report Centurion! There is a report from the fighter units that have broken through on the right."  
  
" What does it say?"  
  
There was momentary silence.  
  
" They have encountered the enemy and are now engaged." Sloth's  
computer mind told him that he had to ask another question.   
  
" What kind of ships have they engaged? "  
  
" Vipers." the robot voice said. Again, there was that silence.  
  
There was just one thing to do. " Order all ships to come to  
and stop, we'll wait out the battle."  
  
Neither Da silva, Scott or Spencer could believe what had just happened. All of them looked at their subordinates with faces that said " If you're wrong I'm going to have your head for this."   
  
It was opportunity knocking at the door.   
  
Da silva knew what she had to do.  
  
" Order all battlestars to engage the enemy, right now." Taylor  
handed the order on.  
  
In space, the teleprinter immediatly began to rattle aboard  
the Iowa and the Galactica.  
  
Sloth wondered as the centurion came back yet again.   
  
" Report centurion!" this one, didn't hesitate.  
  
" The earthlings are now in scanner range. They are al around us." Sloth didn't panick but he did realise the gravity of the situation.  
  
He put his main computer and the war computer into a very high speed to figure out a solution. The last option he came up with sounded reasonable but, it would also mean that he was going to lose most of his forces.  
  
He decided to risk it. " Centurian, order all ships to spread out and attack any enemy ship that is in range." The centurion went out.  
  
The Cylon baseships immediatly began to follow the order Sloth had given  
  
them. They spread out and headed for their Earth counterparts. Spencer was caught of guard but, Scott wasn't.   
  
" They've started a counter attack. That's what I would have done would have done in their place." Tra put back.   
  
Scott then ordered all ships to stay on course.  
  
Spencer was glad. At least somebody had the cool to keep going.  
  
" Positive shield, ready all laser batteries and secure all sections, we're going after the lead ship. Helm, get us an intercept course." The Iowa changed course and headed in the direction of Sloth's battlestar.  
  
The Galactica, had already engaged one of the many baseships in the Cylon fleet. By now, all formations had been broken and battleplans had been rendered  
ineffective.  
  
Except, for one reason. The Cylon line was still intact. Bennet, was one of the few people who saw it.  
  
He remembered the military history courses he had to take while he  
was in the proces of preparing to take command of the Victory.  
  
He esspecially remembered the lessons about the Permanent Fighting instructions. Those were viable in those days but, it was just about the same situation as a long time ago so, he decided to chance it.   
  
" Course 271, raise all electronic shields, To maximum power!, secure all sections and lock on with everything we've got. Engineering, get us up to battle  
speed." The Victory rapidly began to pick up speed.  
  
Bennett looked at everybody on the bridge, including Dobson.  
  
" I know, but I happen to think that it is the only hope that we'll be out of here soon." he remarked but, as he turned around, he could still feel them staring at him. Bennet made the decision to ignore it.  
  
In the meantime the Victory began to close with the Cylons. Not much later, the console operator reported that they were beneath the Cylon firing ark. " Arm all remaining systems and return laser fire." The Victory opened fire with her laser batteries and not much later, the missiles went in the base ship  
they had selected. Bennett ordered the ship to increase speed  
the same moment.  
  
It worked.  
  
The baseship exploded as they were clear. Then there was the  
other one. It went the same way. Aboard the Galactica, an enthusiastic ensign ran up to the command console with a sheet of paper.  
  
" It's a message from the Victory, sir, they report they've broken though the Cylon line." He handed it over to Scott, who handed it to Tra.  
  
Tra studied it very carefully, " Let's hope they made it because she was already damaged to some extent." he remarked. some time later, Scott heard a report that a couple of their other ships had gone through the gap as well.  
  
The report that the Cylon line had been breached, reached Cheyenne mountain  
  
two hours later.   
  
By that time, the Galactica had been heavily damaged, she was already fighting her third basestar.  
  
Sometimes, the smoke from the resulting fires had been so thick that Scott couldn't see what was going happening on the lower lying parts of the bridge. But, as soon as he had ordered damage control, the situation improved remarkably. The first thing he did was ask for their status.  
  
Tra answered " Not good, we've just engaged our third basestar. Our batterys  
are down to fifty percent and, we're out of air to air missiles. I suggest that we get the hell out of here."   
  
As he looked around, Scott was now sure Tra was right. His ship had already destroyed far more Cylon ships then he'd ever knew.  
  
" Helm, take evasive action, Tra, initiate damage control procedures, we've done our part!"  
  
Sloth was looking at the monitor picture, the Galactica had just disengaged with the 3038 and headed for somewhere. Hmm, the idea came up pretty quickly. A battle between him and the Galactica would be ideal. The Earthlings would be lost without her.   
  
He ordered the Destructor to take an intercept  
course to the Galactica.  
  
Scott ordered a full stop as they were outside the general  
battle area. He, Tra and some intelligence officers, were looking at the monitor and scanner pictures of the battle.   
  
" Message from captain Jones sir, he reports he's tracking a  
Cylon battlestar on an intercept course towards us. Thank you ensign."   
  
The other officers immediatly went back to their stations. " We're going to have to assume that he's still carrying missiles." Tra remarked. Scott began to give the first orders " activate all lasers and lock on to their missile  
launchers, switch off all unneeded systems and channel that power to the defence shields. Helm, I want you to keep the bow pointed at her at all costs."  
  
On another screen, the computer was already displaying ranges.   
  
Aboard Sloth's ship, somebody reported that they were in range. The order was given to open fire.  
  
" The cylons are opening fire." Tra reported. Scott quickly ordered evasive action. The shots flew past them. But now, the bow wasn't pointing at their opponnent anymore.   
  
As the Galactica picked up speed, however, she quickly turned around. The bow  
was now pointed directly at their opponent.   
  
" Lock on and fire lateral lasers.- Scott ordered immediatly,- this might be the only chance we've got." Within a few seconds, the lateral lasers opened up. Together with the remaining laser baterries they poured a steady stream of shots into the Galactican adversary.   
  
Tra was the first to see it, slowly but ever quicker, their opponent began to turn.  
  
" She's turning!" he called out.  
  
Everybody looked up from what they were doing. They could see  
it with their own eyes. The Cylon battlestar was indeed turning.   
  
But, her bow was also pointing down. The explosion that followed, was a terrific one.   
  
After it had died down, Scott asked for a damage report.   
  
" Well, we've suffered three hundred and sixty casualties, we've got about fourty percent of our laser batteries left, the shields are down to twenty percent, if we don't withdraw this time, we're going to be in a lot of trouble." A lieutenant remarked.   
  
" Mr Tra, get me a channel to admiral Spencer. Aye sir." It was strange hearing the odd accent act like an officer.   
  
Spencer's face appeared on the monitor.   
  
" Admiral, this is captain Scott, what's the status of the battle? We're doing okay, we're still bringing up ships but after you destroyed their leader they're not putting up much of a fight anymore. Thank you admiral. Galactica out."   
  
The screen turned to status mode. The Galactica remained on the rim  
of the battle until all the baseships had retreated or had been destroyed. While this proces was going on, the ship acted as the fleet communications center.  
  
Scott was suprised to hear of the Victory coming alongside during the battle.  
  
" Captain, the Victory requests us to take on some of their wounded, their life station is overflowing. Tell the Victory we'll have a couple of shuttles with medical teams over right away. Aye sir."  
  
Bennet was studying the scanner results as Dobson came back.  
  
" I've just made an inspection of the ship. We need to put into dock as soon as possible and, what about about some help from other ships? Take a look." The monitor showed three shuttles entering their flight bays.  
  
" Our next door neighbour is the Galactica, admiral. They're sending over three shuttles with damage, repair and medical teams." Dobson put his hands on in front of him, leaned on a panel and sighed. It was finally over.  
  
While the big ships were fighting each other, Starbuck, Maarn and Cramer, had managed to get the upper hand over the Cylon formation that had broken through.  
  
Their squadrons and the reserve squadrons were now going after ships that were fleeing from Earth. Both Starbuck and Cramer got messages by  
then " Destroy as many of them as you can, we've won the battle with the big ships. In case they escape to fast, withdraw to your ships."   
  
The reserve squadrons being the freshest, they continued to chase the attackships until they reached the border of the star system.  
  
Then they to disengaged and retreated as well.  
  
Scott was checking up on their status as he heard Starbuck ask for permission to land. " Roger Starbuck, you're all cleared to land." Scott cleared them personally. Then he headed for the flight bays as well.   
  
As he got there, he noticed Craig and a medical team with stretchers. They were waiting to hear from some of the pilots that were literaly struggling to stay on their feet.   
  
Craig and a couple of orderlys quickly went over to them with a stretcher and forced them to lay down on it. Two sailors then rolled it to the elevator.  
  
Craig then came over to him " It isn't looking good, control reports at least a hundred ships still to come in. and we're already looking at at least sixty cases of heavy exhaustion."  
  
"If you ask me," - Craig continued," we're all going to need r and  
r for some time." Scott nodded and went back up to the bridge.  
  
" Get me admiral Dasilva." was the first thing he ordered as he returned.  
  
Da silva her face appeared on the monitor.  
  
" Captain Scott, it's good to see you back after such a long time." she was smiling. Scott decided to dispense with the pleasantries.  
  
" Admiral, it seems this battle has worn us all out, I respectfully request a shore leave for my whole squadron for a duration of three months."  
  
For a moment, there was no reply from Cheyenne mountain. " Very well  
captain, you have three months of shore leave for every ship in your squadron." then the line was closed. " Tra, get this to the ship's printer, shore leave passes for three months for the whole crew, starting from the moment we dock."  
  
" What date is it today anyway?"  
  
" Er, 3-02-01. Good, I want all hands back on board by 3-06-00."  
  
" Understood, oh, do you know any place we could visit on Earth. Sure but then you'd need to make a choice, there's so much."  
  
Tra was smiling. Scott somehow knew he would have the time of his life on Earth. But what would he do? All of a sudden, Scott remembered his military history lessons, during world war Two, aircraft crews that had survived a certain number of missions would go back to their homelands,  
  
If they weren't occupied, and try to motivate the people into buying war bonds or even trying to get people to enlist.  
  
If Starbuck recovered well enough, he would probably be asked to do the same. He wondered how Starbuck would react to Earth and next to Tra, how would his family react? He hoped it would be positive.  
  
He was still thinking about what he was going to do the moment he touched down with the shuttle, as the ghost appeared.  
  
This time, the light wasn't there. Scott suddenly had the feeling that he was being watched. He turned around. The ghost spoke loud for the first time. " I am commander Adama. Comman der of the battlestar Galactica. Captain Scott, the ship is now yours. Be careful with her she'll get you there where you want  
  
to be. My job is done. Good luck captain."   
  
There was a brief flash of light and, as he looked up, the ghost had disappeared.  
  
Scott went over to the computer and activated the log section.  
  
" Ships log : USS Galactica  
Date : 3-02-01  
  
I'm glad that we can finally call this  
part of our endeavour over. I'm looking forward to continueing  
the exploration of the stars but, I'm also looking forward to  
see what the discovery of the battlestar, or whatever it is she  
was called, has done on Earth. "  
  
As he couldn't think of anything else, he stored the log entry  
just like he had done with the others and switched off the computer.  
  
Scott then grabbed his duffle bag and headed for the shuttle bay where he took one going down to Earth.  
  
  
THE END 


End file.
